A Deadly World
by WritingInsanely
Summary: This is a fanfiction for 'The Walking Dead' mainly based on Carl Grimes and many other characters I've made up and added in. This has Romance, Action, Kidnappings, Death(of course) This is not going to be a sappy, romantic fanfiction, it will be a proper story, with a storyline, Character development (It's still got romance just not twelve year old romance...) Hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1~Carl's POV**

"A'right Carl, up we get. We gotta' go on a supply run," Daryl says as he enters my cell.

"Uh…K," I reply, still half asleep. _That's our second supply run in about five days; we really are_ _running low, again._ I get up sleepily out of my bed and stretch my arms up and yawn. I put on a shirt and grab my hat and gun, walk out of the cell and follow Daryl down and out of the prison. With us follows Michonne, Carol and Glenn. We all hop into one car and drive out of the prison, I wave goodbye to my dad as he pulls the gates shut.

Michonne and Daryl start chatting to each other, holding up maps and figuring out where to go. Carol and Glenn start talking about the children, how they're holding up and also about Maggie and Beth. According to Carol they recently got into a heated argument about how we all have a job and we all have to do those jobs.

After a while the car stops and we all jump out, scanning the area for walkers, but we see none. First we go into a little General store; in there we kill three walkers. One was the manager of the store, his badge still clipped on. We grab the supplies needed and head on down the street to find a row of houses, Daryl and Carol go into one and Michonne, Glenn and I into another. We search around the kitchen, upstairs bedrooms and the living room, when I enter the dining room I notice piles and piles of food and supplies sitting on the table, with duffle bags lying around on the ground filled with stuff too.

"Michonne, Glenn, I found something," I shout, and they quickly run into the room. Glenn starts taking the duffle bags while Michonne hesitates for a minute, then she decides to help.

"We can't just take it? No one would just leave this stuff here for anyone to nick off with!" I say.

"Well th- Glenn gets cut off by a growling noise, a walker.

It enters into the room, half its arm already chopped off and as it shuffles it groans loudly. Its tatted clothes moulded into the rotten flesh and the stench grows stronger, but I was so used to it that I barely noticed it. In one instant Michonne whips her sword out, cutting through its neck. The head falls to the ground with a _thud _while blood spewed out of its neck, then the body falls to the floor. Its head still chomping its jaw up and down made it seem more unreal, but Michonne quickly puts it out of its misery by stabbing it through the top of its head.

"Lovely," I mutter under my breath.

"See, if there was a walker in here that means these people are long gone," Glenn says.

I start hearing faint scraping noises, then shuffles coming from a door at the end of the hallway. I make my way down there, cautiously and hear the noises more loudly. I push the door open slightly and see light coming through but it wasn't very bright and a dark, grubby stair case stood in front of me, leading down into the basement.

"There's a light, but it's not very bright and it seems to be flickering. I think it might be a fire or an oil lamp," I say, opening the door wider so the others could see. "I'm going to go check it out," I whisper as I make my way down the staircase. "Carl!" Glenn whispers loudly, "Here," he says as he chucks me a torch. I catch it just before it drops to the ground and whisper back a thank you. I then continue my way down the staircase and into the dark abyss; I spot the fire not too far away. It was, in fact, an oil lamp but it was growing weak. I flick on my torch and shine it around the room; I see nothing until my light hits a body. The body was sitting upright and I could only _just _see it breathing. I walk closer to it keeping my light on its face. The head slowly lifts up and I see her face, a girl with long messed up hair. Her face looked drained and tired like she hadn't slept in weeks. She looked very pale and thin. Suddenly, she raises her hands up to block the light from her eyes.

"Hello?" I call to her, not too loudly.

She coughs and manages to whisper out a 'hey'.

"Are you bitten?" I ask, in reply she shakes her head. So I walk up to her and lift her up, but she can barely walk so I tell her to hop on my back. She does and I carry her up the stairs and see Glenn, Daryl, Carol and Michonne's shocked faces.

I set her down on the couch in the living room while the adults go into the other room, discussing whether or not we should take her back. They asked me to check for bites.

"Sorry, but I have to check…Everywhere…" I mumble. She nods and takes off her shirt, I quickly close my eyes but she says it's okay, and that she understands. I then proceed to check everywhere and find no bites. I then notice a scar on her wrist, she says it was nothing and that it happened ages ago and if it really was a bite it wouldn't be as simple and none gross looking. Besides the scar had healed over and she had no sign of a fever.

"Alright, all good," I say, looking at her face. Her dirty blonde hair fell around her face, all messy and knotty. Her eyes had dark circles underneath them and she could barely keep her eyes open. I could only just make out the colour of her eyes, green. She had a grubby face too.

"What?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, uh, n-nothing," I reply, stuttering a little.

She looks at me as though she isn't convinced in the slightest.

"I was just noticing how…dead you look," I say.

"Oh. Well, I haven't eaten for a while… and…" she glances down at her wrist, "I haven't slept either,"

"Yeah, I could kind of tell," I mumble, noticing how long the adults were taking.

"So, what are those other people doing? Deciding whether they should take me in? Or maybe just kill me and take my supplies…" she says, obviously irritated.

I laugh, dryly, and actually start to consider if they'd actually do that, would they? I would never think they would but…Survival has become everyone's top priority now. She has so much stuff, ranging from weapons to food, why does she look so ill then? Was she saving it bit by bit? But she even admitted that she hadn't eaten at all…

I look up at her, shifting my position a bit, "You have a lot of stuff…How come you don't use it?" I ask.

"I thought you might ask that, I was trapped down in that basement for a long time…" she says her eyes showing how little _she _was really there. "I grew too weak, so I couldn't get up the stairs myself," she continues.

She coughs a little and starts to dry heave, I panic, is she ill? "A-are you okay?" I say, I know it was a pathetic thing to ask but I had no clue what to do.

"It's- it's okay, I'm fine. I'm sick from not having enough food." She says.

Oh, of course.

Michonne, Daryl, Glenn and Carol all walk in the room, eyeing the girl.

"What's your name?" Carol asks, worriedly.

"Madison," she replies. "Or just Maddy,"

"We've decided that you gonna come with us, we can't just leave you here but it's not up to us if you can stay at our place," Daryl says, packing his bag up. "Hope you don't mind, but we've packed all your supplies in the car," and then he walks off with Glenn and Carol following.

"You'll be fine, I'm sure Rick will accept you," Michonne says and then she follows the others.

She looks at me, worriedly. "I'll make sure they don't just take your stuff and dump you somewhere random, okay? I'm sure my Dad will make the right decision. By the way, the name's Carl,"

**Maddy's POV**

Carl looked around my age, but I wasn't too sure. For some reason though, his eyes showed me that I could trust him. So I decided too.

"Thanks Carl, I appreciate it. Could you do me a favour though?" I ask, sweetly.

"Yeah sure, what do you want me to do?" he asks.

"Could you carry me to the car?" I laugh, and so he says, "Sure,"

**A/N; Hope you all liked my '****_The Walking Dead' _****FANFICTION :) I would really love it if you could leave a review since this is my first fanfiction that I've ever written. I have around 10 chapters already written but I'm not posting them all at once, so please tell me what you think because I REALLY want to know ! xx **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 ~ Maddy's POV**

Carl leaned in and scooped me up; I placed my arm around his neck and my other around the front side of his neck, grabbing his shoulder. He walks towards the front door, we just about reach the front door when a zombie tackled us from the side, causing Carl and me to fall to the ground.

_Crap, oh crap, is Carl OK?_

I take out my dagger from my pocket; the zombie crawls over us and grabs onto Carl's shirt, he groans but does nothing. _Now!_

I stab my dagger into the zombie's head, killing him instantly. The decayed body falls on top of my legs, and fully on top of Carl. _Eugh._

I push the body off of Carl, and he moves out from underneath.

"Damn, looks like we 'ave a badass killer," the guy from before says, holding out his crossbow, which was loaded.

"You had it loaded and aimed the whole time?" I asked, a bit shocked that he didn't help.

"I wanted to see if you could kill," he replied, shrugging.

"One of us could have ended up dead, ya' know." I say, ending it there.

"It's okay Maddy, I'm fine," Carl says, scooping me up again. We reach the car and he places me on his lap, since there were no more seats left. Besides, I would feel more awkward sitting on any of the other's lap, I didn't even know their names. Crossbow guy sat in the driver's seat, and the girl with dread-locks and a wicked sword sat in the other front seat. At that moment, they both introduced themselves, Crossbow guy is called Daryl, sword chick is called Michonne and the other two are Carol and Glenn.

"Nice to meet y'all," I reply. I look at Carl and he smiles, reassuringly.

After a long car ride Carl says we're here as we pull up to a massive looking building, and then I notice the fences and towers around the place, _the prison? They override it? Wicked!  
_We stop in front of two big gates and I just make out a woman with short brown hair, opening the gates and then quickly closing them as we drive onwards. We came to a stop; Carl opens the door quickly and lifts me out.

"Hey, Carl!" another boy around my age calls out, waving; he notices me and looks at Carl questioningly.

"This is Maddy, we found her and she's too weak to walk. Also, she had heaps of supplies!" Carl says, happily.

"Well hi there Maddy, I'm Sam," Sam says, holding out his hand. I take it in mine and shake it.

"Sup'," I reply.

A man with little facial hair walks out and see's all the supplies and then he turns to face Carl, he smiles at him but I just notice his eyebrows frown and a confused facial expression.

**Carl's POV**

My Dad walks up to us, first he shakes his hand through my, now quite long and scraggly, hair and welcomes both of us.

"Who's this Carl?" He asks, looking at Maddy.  
"Carl, you can put me down, I reckon if I lean on you I could stand," she suggests, so I do and it works.

"This is Maddy, we found her in a house with all these supplies," I say, casually.

He looks at her for a while before talking again. "You look ill, everything okay? No bites?" he asks, anxiously.

"I checked and she has none, not even a scratch, she's ill beca- I say, but soon I get cut off.

"Depression," Maddy blurts out, unsure. "Because depression, I've lost so many loved ones, it was hard to go through," she says.

Well this was new, was she lying? If she wasn't, how come she didn't tell me before?

"Oh, okay. I'm sure we can help that, but first I have three questions. Can you swear to answer them truthfully?" he says, looking directly at Maddy.

"Sure I can," she says, confidently.

"One, how many walkers have you killed?" he says.

"Uh, walkers?" she asks, confused.

"Oh right, we call them walkers, you know, the zombies," I say.

"Oh, okay. I've killed quite a few, but I don't remember the exact amount," she replies.

"How many living people have you killed?" My Dad asks, with concern in his voice.

"I've killed one," she replies, with a sad tone of voice.

"Why?" Rick asks.

"He was bit, so I put him out of his misery before he turned," she mumbles.

Rick looks sad for a moment but then smiles happily and pats her on the shoulder, "Welcome to the prison," and then he walks away, grabbing the bags that were being unloaded. "Oh and Carl, show her to her cell, she can go in the one next to yours!" He shouts, as he hauls a bag onto his shoulder.

I pick Maddy up again and she laughs, and for once sounds genuinely happy, not sarcastic or depressed. Obviously, her usual emotions can't be helped, but I'm glad that I could make her a little happy once in a while. I casually walked past some people and into her cell, placing her down on the bottom bunk. "Welcome to you room, I know it's not much," I say, shrugging, "But at least you have a bed, I guess,"

"It's more than 'not much', I feel heaps safer of course. Thanks, again," she says, looking at me with hope in her eyes.

**3 weeks later**

After spending over 3 weeks at the prison, Maddy's gotten to know everyone quite well, she became close friends with Sam, Chelsea and I. I was glad she became friends Chelsea, we found Chelsea a while back. When we found her she had been tortured by bandits, she never told anyone what they did to her but I can imagine what they would have done. They did this because in her original survival group the group had hidden their great mass of supplies, so they had kidnapped her. For a little over a week she kept living with them torturing her day and night. Finally, she came through and told them, she just couldn't take it anymore. When they reached their camp, everyone had been killed, not by walkers but by people. The supplies were long gone, so they beat her up one last time and she was so close to death, but we found her just in time.

I took my breakfast and sat with Sam, Chelsea and Maddy. They were laughing at something as I sat down and I noticed the happy smile in Maddy's eyes. From the day she first laughed she never faked a laugh again, after being here for these past weeks she's recovered so much. We've even started training and I've noticed how great she is with a knife, especially her dagger she used to save my life a while back. But lately I've been wondering, and meaning to ask Michonne if she could train on a couple of walkers with her sword, I know we'd never find a sword but it would be cool to try it out some time.

"Morning Carl," Maddy says, grinning as she starts eating again.

"Morning," I say, happily. "Oh, and morning Sam, Chelsea,"

Sam and Chelsea burst into laughter and I feel my face blush a little.

"What? What's so funny?" Maddy whines, looking around at all of us.

"N-nothing," Chelsea says, only just managing to spit it out.

I capture the moment, everyone laughing happily, having fun, not caring about the many past deaths or traumatic events…

Michonne walks into the room and everyone turns their attention towards her as she violently shoves a young man, maybe fifteen or older, with jet black hair. I turn to face Maddy, to see what she thinks about, for a second her eyes had widen to the max and her mouth had opened a little, the shock on her face surprised me but as soon as it came it left and she struggled to look calm, but did nothing.

"Carl?" she whispered, "Carl, I need to get out of here, now,"

**A/N; Hope you enjoyed, reviews much appreciated! :) **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 ~ Maddy's POV**

"Carl, I need to get out of here, now," I whisper, noticing Sam's questioning look.

"You guys can't just leave, there's obviously something happening!" Sam whispers loudly.

I plead to Carl, and he looks to me and grabs hold of my hand and leads me silently down a passage and out into the courtyard. He turns to me and looks at me, "Maddy, what's wrong?" he asks, concerned.

I shake my head and stare at my hands which were shaking uncontrollably. I look back up at Carl and I just remember how much I trust him.

"Maddy, what do you need?" he asks.

"Water," I manage to say, suddenly collapsing to the ground because my legs grew too weak.

He comes back with a cup of water and gives it to me, but my hands shake so hard that some of it spills so he grabs it and pours some of the water into my mouth. At first I find it hard to swallow, but I force it down. After I finish all of the water my body starts to calm down, but I still feel a bit nauseous and shaky.

"I'm guessing you had another attack?" Carl says, turning my head to face him, I nod in reply. "Do you know the reason for it this time? Is there anything I can do to help?"

I nod in reply again, but instead of explaining I force myself into Carl, burying my face into his shoulder. At first he feels taken by surprise, tensed and awkward but then he finally relaxes and hugs me back. I hug him tighter and start to cry a little, mostly because of the pain that rips at my heart.

I lift my head to face him and I notice how extremely close we are, "The g-guy back there, killed my group, brother and sister. Took some supplies, he's not safe," I manage to say, feeling another tear slide down my grubby cheek, it pauses at my chin and then falls, splashing somewhere on myself. I realised that that was the first time I hugged Carl properly, it felt good, reassuring and strong. I didn't get these attacks after the apocalypse, they started well before. Panic attacks were common with me, usually they happen for no reason but this one definitely had one.

The memories made me feel even sicker and I look to Carl, his eyes widen in alarm. "We have to tell my dad," he finally says, letting go of me and proceeded to stand up.

He grabs my hand and helps me stand, "C'mon, quickly," he whispers as we make our way back through the passage and into the hall. The whole crowd is still standing there and I see the jet-black haired guy talking to Rick. "Carl…" I say, and point to the boy.

**Carl's POV**

I follow Maddy's pointed finger in the direction it was pointed and spot the boy with my father, in deep conversation. I suddenly realise that Rick could be accepting his request so I run full pelt towards them, reaching them just in time as I hear my father ask him the second question.

"One, and if you're going to ask why it was a friend of mine, he got bit," the boy said.

"He- he's lying," I say, a little out of breath.

"What are you talking about? You know this boy?" Rick says and I see the alarm spread across the boy's face.

"Maddy, she-she told me that he murdered her survival group for her supplies," I say, and I feel something light touch my shoulder. Maddy stands next to me, inspecting the boy and his eyes grow even wider. Guilty, definitely guilty.

Maddy looks to me and nods her head, confirming her suspicion. She then looks to Rick and his face grows into disbelief.

"Look, kid, I am so-so sorry, but my little sister needed food. She was suffering from lack of healthy, nutritious food! I couldn't let her die after everyone else in my family did!" he protests.

"Huh? If that's true, WHERE IS YOUR SISTER?" Maddy shouts, and I notice the anger swell up inside.

"SHE'S DEAD," he shouts back, wiping tears from his now red eyes.

"You could have asked, you didn't have to kill everyone in my group! I had brothers and sisters too! They died because of you!" she shouts back at him, running away, and pushing people as she ran out of frustration. She barrels head first into Daryl, he scoops her up and chucks her over his shoulder.

"Put me down! DARYL PUT ME DOWN!" she shouts, hitting Daryl's back, hard.

I notice Daryl looking to me, and he gestures me to follow. I follow Daryl and a screaming Maddy to an un-used cell, there he places her inside and tells me that I could be the only one to comfort her properly, so I agreed and went in. By the time I entered she had curled herself into a ball on the bottom bunk. I hear her sobbing underneath the blankets. I sit myself beside the lump and stroke her hair that had been left out of the sheets.

"Maddy, it'll be fine. I'm sure my father will make the right decision," my memories flash back to the first time I had said that to her, and he did which made me even surer about it.

"Carl, I'm scared. Not just scared more like…Terrified. I hate this new world; I wish I died when I had the chance! I wish that guy killed me before killing my entire family; do you know how much I have to suffer each day? Waking up and remembering that whoever I care about might die today just like everyone else?" Maddy says, sitting up, with her head out of the sheets. "I wake up every morning to check if you're still alive Carl! Chelsea and Sam too, even little Judith! I dread the days when you have to go on a supply run without me because there's always a chance that something bad will go wrong, like it always does! Then you would be dead and I just can't handle another death in my life, Carl!"

I look at Maddy, her hair a mess. Red puffed up eyes and a trembling lip. I instantly pull her into a hug, we hug longer than before and she started to settle down. "Maddy, don't worry, if I ever leave I'll always come back, I promise," I say, in a soothing, gentle voice.

"Carl, please don't say you will promise that because if you do die, you would have broken a promise to me and that would make it even more dreadful," she mumbles. I lean against the wall and she lays her head in my lap, I twirl my fingers through her hair and wonder about the spill she had just shouted to me. Did she really care that much for me? I would have never thought anyone else besides my parents could ever feel so much for me, is this the kind of feelings I had for her?

"I know how you feel, too. My best friend Sophia died, we met on the first day everything turned nasty. I remember that she became lost and we searched for her for days. We found her later as a walker. Dale, T-dog, Andrea, Shane, Amy and more, all people I knew died as well; I even killed two of them, Shane and someone else... I've lost family, maybe not as much as yours but she meant everything to me. Lori, my mother died giving birth to Judith here, we were trapped and surrounded by walkers so we hid in a room. The only person that had any chance of helping my mother at that moment was Maggie, but she died anyway. I was the one who put her out, and she told me to stay strong. Now every single time I look at Judith she always reminds me of my mom, and if I ever lose Judith I think I would die myself," I say, letting out my feelings to a girl I only just met over 3 weeks ago.  
I never talk about my feelings to anyone, I always keep them bottled up inside, and I never, ever talk about the death of my mother or the way I feel about Judith. Why was I saying it now?

"Carl…I'm so sorry, you must think I'm pathetic for whining about myself when I never realised how much pain you've been through…" Maddy says, facing me.

"It's fine, everyone has been through pain, and I'm sure it's not going to end yet…" I stare down at Maddy, while she stares at me. It happened all so quickly but she sat up, faced me and I gently held her while pulling her in for a kiss, our lips brushed for a moment and then the kiss deepened and we both pulled back.

"Are you guys okay?" Chelsea says as she enters the room, sitting down near us.

"Holy crap Mads, are you okay?" Sam asks, giving her a friendly hug.  
She looked at him and smiled, "Yes, everything's okay,"

To be honest, I haven't known her for _that_ long, but I can tell when she is lying, or when she is unhappy and this is one of those times. Before the other two interrupted us, it had felt absolutely amazing to kiss Maddy. Her lips felt amazing, like they belonged to me, and fitted perfectly with mine. Through all this time of loss and pain I've always wanted someone to comfort me.

When the other two were deep in discussion Maddy quickly grinned and winked at me, I felt my cheeks blush but I realised we had just kissed! I don't need to try and hide my feelings for her anymore.

I winked back and she giggled quietly. All the happiness, love and awesome feelings I felt were soon drained away as the jet-black haired guy waltzed into the room, staring directly at Maddy.

**A/N; Hope you enjoyed this chapter, hope you liked the romance but don't start thinking that this will be a sappy, romantic fanfiction because I actually want it to have a story and I really hate non-realistic romance where two characters instantly fall in love, you'll find out more of that in the next chapter! Remember, reviews ARE MUCH appreciated ;-) Thanks x**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 ~ Maddy's POV**

The cell door swung open revealing the murderer, why hasn't he left yet? Has Rick let him stay…?

"What are you doing here?" Carl says, glaring.

"Well, I thought I'd hang out with some people my age, and my name is Jet," Jet says, shyly.

_What the hell? Does this mean that Rick let him stay here? That he's a part of our group now? Rick is supposed to be cautious about these types of things! He was the one who created the three questions._

"Rick let you stay?" I yelled, standing up from the bed, making my way to him. "What the hell? You think you can just murder my family and waltz right in here asking to be friends!?"

"Hey! I told you I'm sorry! You don't understand, I… There's more to the story but I can't expect you to understand it," Jet shouts, walking away from the cell.

I watch him walk away down the small corridor, wiping his reddening face. What the hell? More to the story? I call bullshit.

"Maddy? Maddy, it is okay. Just calm down," Chelsea says, putting her hand on my shoulder and leading me back.

"We're just going to have to accept it," Sam says, in a calm voice.

"You guys can but I'm not going to," I say and everyone knew that was my final decision.

"CARL, MADDY, SAM, CHELSEA, MEETING NOW," Daryl calls out, so we all get up and walk down to the meeting.

"Okay, now that everyone is here," Rick says, eyeing us, "We've just been informed that the Governor has reassembled a new group with hard fighting people just like us. So, I've decided to form a couple of groups to go to different places to get as many weapons, ammo, whatever supplies you can get. Just get anything,"

"Alright, so in my group I have Glenn, Maddy, Carl and Jet," Daryl says as each of the people gets up and walks over to Daryl.

We all hop into one car and set off onto our journey, Glenn sitting in shot-gun, Me on the side and Jet on the other side with Carl in the middle and with Daryl driving of course.

I glance at Jet a few times; he sat there just staring out the window, looking extremely uncomfortable. "So, what are we going to be checking out?" I ask.

"Well, by the looks of it there's a drug store, general store and a line of houses. Sounds simple enough," Glenn says, looking at our marked spot.

"Let's just hope there's still stuff in any of those places," Carl adds.

I nod in agreement and stare out the window. Up ahead I spot two kids, they looked about 8 and 10 years old. I was just about to call to Daryl for him to pull over because it seemed as though he didn't notice them but I realised that it was little Johnny and Carrie and I gasped.

"What is it?" Carl asked, Jet inquiring too.

But as soon as I saw them they disappeared, like they were never there. "I thought I saw something, but it doesn't matter,"

Carl says OK and stares out the front window again but out of the corner of my eye I notice Jet still looking at me. Is he asking for trouble? Because I'd be glad to smack him one…or two or maybe five thousand times.

I stared out the window again but it still felt as if someone was staring at me so I turn my head to face Jet and his eyes grow wide, as if he's been caught doing something he shouldn't.  
"What's your problem?" I say loudly, causing Carl to look at me.

"S-sorry, nothing is my-

"Next time, take a picture. It lasts longer!" I say, cutting Jet of in midsentence.

"Well guys, you better chill out because we're here," Glenn says. The car stops and Glenn and Daryl hop out first, then Jet, Carl and I.

"Alright guys, this may scare you a bit but you're going to have to get used to it," Daryl starts.  
_What was he on about?_  
"Me and Glenn will be checking out these stores since the car is here, so we'll be lifting heavy stuff and carrying everything and loading it into here. Y'all gonna have to work together to search each of these houses, we'll come looking for you when it's time to go,"

"Jet's not coming with us," I say.

Daryl looks at me for a moment and walks up to me, putting his arm around my shoulders.  
"Let's go for a bit of a walk, okay?" I turn back to see Jet looking worried, was Daryl going to tell me the 'rest' of his stupid story?

"Look darlin', you know I care for you? As soon as I saw you, all wrecked and banged up you reminded me of…Someone else I knew a while back. Carl is strong, quick thinker and cautious just like his father. I believe that Carl will take good care of you, okay? I'm sure he won't let Jet do anything," Daryl explains.

"It's not that, I can handle myself. I'm worried that he'll hurt Carl, or someone we might meet. What if he runs off with the stuff we collect? You can't just let him walk around like he's not a murderer!" I say.

"We're all murderers. Every single day we kill someone," Daryl continues, "Besides, Rick told me to make sure I don't treat him badly or any differently. I'm sorry, but I have to do what Rick says,"

I finally agree but I also make it clear that I am not be-friending Jet in any way, at all. So we walk back to the group and Carl instantly asks if I'm alright. I nod and lead the way to the houses. In the first house, we find a couple of handy things so we leave quickly and make our way to the second.

"If you don't mind me asking, but are you two an item?" Jet asks, politely.

I look at Carl and he looks back at me, "It's kind of complicated, I guess," I say, Carl nods and we continue on in silence. Once we reach the house we split up, Carl and I search upstairs while Jet stays down.

"So, uh. What do you mean, 'it's complicated'?" Carl asks, suddenly.

"Oh, sheesh Carl! I'm sorry if I confused you! I just wasn't sure how to answer…Because I don't know. I was kind of waiting for us to talk about that kiss," I say, hoping it was the right thing to say.

Suddenly Carl's face lights up and he blushes. "Well, I know I liked it. Something other than killing walkers, finally,"

"You know, I could lie to you Carl," I say, and Carl looks up at me, concerned. "I could be all romantic and say that you were my first kiss, and that by that kiss I realised my love for you! But I'm not that kind of person. You weren't my first kiss, and I don't love you," Carl looks down at his feet, sadly, "Don't take that in a wrong way. You know I care for you, and you know I'd do anything to keep you alive! I love you, but not romantically. Besides, I never said that I won't _come _to love you. It's just; we've only known each other a little over 3 weeks. So, of course there's still a chance of anything happening between us, just not right now,"

Carl looks up and smiles happily. "At first I was confused what type of feelings I had for you but what you just said made everything seem a lot clearer," he says in reply.

I sighed in relief, "I'm glad we cleared things up. I'm pretty sure that kiss we shared was because we were both upset but that doesn't mean that I didn't like it, it was great. Maybe we can try it again some other time?" I say, flirtatiously.

"Yeah sure, that's a promise," he replies.

**Carl's POV**

We finished searching upstairs and I felt so much better after having that talk. I was just confused and she cleared it up, basically explained it to, and I was glad we weren't an item at this point in time. It wouldn't be real love if we decided to make a relationship happen. I was also glad that she said we could be together in the future. To be honest, I can't wait for that promised kiss.

Maddy starts to head downstairs while I finish up checking a closet in one of the hallways. I searched for a while but didn't find much, and I realised how quiet it had become.

"Maddy?" I ask. After a few seconds there was no reply, and I hear a muffled scream as well as a shout of surprise. Jet?

I follow the noise quickly and find them in the living room, each with a gun pointing at their temple. Two men I've never seen before held the guns and stood there. I slowly lift my gun up, just out of protection. I stare at Jet, his eyes wide with fear, staring straight at mine. Then I turn my attention to Maddy, she looks at me worriedly. Of course she's worrying about me when she's the one with a gun to her head!

"Put the gun down," a calm voice says, but strangely familiar. In walks a man with an eye-patch covering his right eye, the Governor, I slowly put my gun down and stand up straight again, holding my hands in the air.

"Now, I'm going to be taking these two hostages peacefully, I don't want to hurt anyone," he says, calmly.

I tense up and wonder what he would do to them, especially Maddy. "Please, please don't hurt them," I say, carefully.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't hurt them, the only person who can is Rick," he says.

_Did he mean that as only Rick's decision could hurt them? He's definitely going to use them to get the prison. Dammit!_

Suddenly Jet kicks his leg backwards, hitting the man in the groin, which distracts the other man.  
"Maddy, run!" Jet screams as the other man pins him down, but it's too late. The Governor shoots his gun in the air, causing everyone to freeze.

The man grabs Jet and forces him down to a kneeling position. He's just about to pull the trigger…

"No, we won't be killing him. We need him for later. Sorry Carl, but I can't promise you that this one," the Governor says, kicking Jet in the stomach, "will be unharmed," and then I hear footsteps behind me, a sharp pain to my head, Maddy calling my name and the sound of my body hitting the ground with a _thud._

**A/N; Hope you liked this chapter and the action in it! Yes, I haven't killed off the Governor and I know there are a lot of haters out there but don't worry! I loved the Governor as a character but I agree, it started to make the TV show storyline a bit boring because it was always him doing the same thing over and over but in this I'll try to make him do different things, especially unexpected things. In the next chapter you'll be finding out stuff from Jet's past... Reviews are much appreciated, Bye for now! x And a special thanks to 'French Fries' - a guest- who reviewed the first couple of chapters !**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5~ Maddy's POV**

I watch as Carl's body hits the ground, one of the 'Governor's' men hit him in the head. I scream his name, is he dead?

"Don't worry, little girl," the Governor says, forcing my chin up to face him, "That hit won't kill him, only knock him out,"

"But he can't defend himself from walkers if he's knocked out!" I shout.

"That's not my problem," then I hear a thud as Jet's body falls to the ground also, and then next I feel a pain too, and the ground. Then everything goes black.

**A few hours later…**

Slowly everything comes back to normal and I hear my name being called, it was Jet. I wake up and see only black still it feels soft, like a bag or something.

"Jet?" I whisper.

"Oh thank God, I wasn't sure if you were there or not," he says, shakily.

I hear the door open and close, and I feel the bag slide off my head. There stood our two capturers and the Governor.

"Now, you won't be hurt if you do everything I say, basically we are using you two as hostages. Or more like goods, we will be trading you two over for the prison. If they don't accept, we'll kill you, simple really," the Governor says. "And as for you, Jet, my boys need to speak with you in the other room,"

Jet's expression turns to worry and then true fear, a fear that I've never seen plastered on someone else's face.

Were they going to torture him…?

They leave the room but the Governor stays here. I notice that I'm tied up on a single chair, but my mouth was left free. "You said you weren't going to hurt us," I say, through angry, gritted teeth.

"Yes, I did say that. I am not the one who is hurting him though," he says, evilly and smiles a disgusting smile.

"Who are you anyway? I've only been told about your description and name. I can already see how vile you are," I say.

"Oh? They haven't told you their past with me? It's probably because it's their fault," he says. "It all started way back when I was the leader of a town called Woodbury. We were a great survival team; I had many strong soldiers, loving townspeople and many great friends, even a lover. It was all shattered when Michonne snuck in, probably to find Andrea, her friend. Instead, she killed my daughter,"

"Michonne wouldn't kill a child, besides, what makes you think I'd believe a word you say?" I reply.

"Wow, feisty. You think you're brave and cool by talking to me like that? You're just a dumb whiny little child. Remember, I'm the one who's not tied up and I'm the one with the gun," he says.

I instantly shut my mouth and remember Carl. _Oh crap! Carl! Did Daryl and Glenn find him? What if they find Carl's half eaten body lying in a pool of blood and guts. No, I can't think like that, not now._

"You want to see your little boyfriend again? I hope he gets ripped apart," he says.

"Don't you dare say that? Why are you so rotten? It's like you're already a walker, but only on the inside!" I shout, and then he pulls out his gun and aims for my head.

"Don't you think that I won't hesitate to pull this trigger, I already have one hostage!" he shouts.

"Yes, but I'm the one Carl loves. You'd think his Dad would care about that, right?" I say, carefully.

He rolls his eyes, well, actually his one eye and then leaves the room. About five minutes later Jet gets shoved back in, and he falls in a heap on the floor in front of my feet.  
"Jet! Are you alive?" I ask, and for some reason I feel as if I actually care about this scumbag.

His body was curled up and bloody, he had many cuts over him but none that could let him bleed to death. I'm sure that it would be hurting like hell though.

"Yeah…I'm-I'm alive," he manages to say.

He pulls himself upright and leans on the couch in front of me. "I hope Carl is OK," he whispers.

"So do I…" I say back, I really hope he hasn't died…

"Well shit, I never thought I'd be in this position," he says.

"You deserve it," I say, remembering what he did.

"You saw them, didn't you? You're brother and sister? You didn't admit it though…" He says.

"How could you say something like that! Of course I didn't admit it to the person who murdered them! I saw it happen!" I say, my hate rising again.

"I see my sister all the time," he says, ignoring what I just said.

"I don't care!" I shout.

"Look, let me explain! The Governor would have just captured you as hostage OK? But he saw me and took me. You want to know why?" He asks and I nod in reply  
"I used to be one of his 'soldiers'. The Governor is a bad guy! He did terrible things, but I only stayed on his side for the sake of my sister. We went around to different camps, killing the people and stealing their stuff. When we came back to town we'd make up some bullshit lie to cover it up. They made me take over your group, if I didn't they would have shot me! Call me a coward, I don't care but they would have also killed my sister!" he confesses.

Holy crap. I never… I never thought it like that. I just thought he was some lazy, cowardly teenager only thinking of himself, taking everything away from me. I realised now that he had too and that he didn't do it for himself but for his sister, now that I think about it, I probably would have done the exact same thing…

"I…I didn't know, I'm so sorry…" I mumble, trying to keep my tears back.

"The next day I couldn't stop thinking about killing those kids and setting a group of zombies…Or 'walkers' into the house. It has never left me until this day, the nightmares and the dead children. I will never be able to forgive myself and I know you won't able too as well. I decided to leave because I never wanted this to happen again but the Governor found out I was trying to escape. He took my sister and…Killed her. I managed to escape afterwards, but it was my fault she and all those kids died," he continues.

Then I notice the tone of voice and the way he explained things. He was telling the truth and I was still shocked that I believed him but by already meeting the Governor, I wasn't surprised that he would have done that.

"Look, Jet. You can't forgive yourself if I don't forgive you first. The Governor is a vile bastard and I know for a fact that he would have done something like that. It's not your fault they died, it's the Governor's so we're going to fight harder than ever for them, and, I forgive you," I say, suddenly feeling a lot better.

"I promise you that I will fight hard for your brother, sister and mine," he says.

"We'll fight together," I say and Jet smiles for the first time.

**Carl's POV**

Our car screeches to a stop while we wait for Maggie to open up the gates, then we speed down the road. I jump out as soon as it stops and Hershel comes over, looking for Jet.  
"Where's Jet?" Hershel asks, "And Maddy?"

"They were captured by the Governor, I have a feeling that they're going to be used as hostages to get this prison from us," I say as everyone else crowds around to hear the news.

"Dammit!" cries Rick. "Why the hell were they by themselves?"

"Look Rick, I'm sorry! You'd think the Governor would be preparing himself and his army, not searching for us!" Daryl says.

"We're going to have to leave…" I say, of course we have to! Maddy's life is at risk! Oh and Jet's…

"We can't leave without a fight!" Glenn says, with Rick agreeing.

"But Maddy and Jet could die! I'm not losing someone else I care about," I shout, angrily.

Sam and Chelsea pull me away from the argument, and we go to a cell inside.

"It's best if we let the adults take care of this one," Chelsea says. I realise how mature Chelsea is, for a fifteen year old. Sam on the other hand acts like an average sixteen year old and Jet acts as a broken fifteen year old, or was he sixteen?

"How old is Jet?" I ask, curiously.

"He's turning sixteen soonish," Sam says, and I nod. I'm so glad that Maddy and I are fourteen, still got a long way to go…

"So…What happened?" Chelsea asks, worriedly.

I explain them every detail of what happened, except my serious talk with Maddy beforehand.

For the rest of the day we prepare for what's to come. It might end up peaceful and happy, but I seriously doubt it. They're going to try and ask the Governor if he and his group would like to stay at the prison with us. Personally, I think that the Governor will decline, he's a selfish man.

_I hope Maddy and Jet are OK. What if the Governor tortured them? What if the Governor… Raped Maddy? Would he seriously do that to a fourteen year old? _

I guess I'll just have to wait till' morning, because that's when the battle will start and end.

**A/N; Next chapter shall be put on soon, sorry for leaving you on a cliffhanger-ish. The next chapter will focus more on Jet's, Carl's and Maddy's relationships with each other. Hope you liked reading, reviews are much appreciated! x**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 ~ Maddy's POV**

They slide our bags back on and shove both of us into a car. We go over bumps, turn sharp corners and suddenly we come to a stop. I feel my stomach become more nauseated and I feel an attack coming on.

_No! I can't do this now, I have to be strong. Not just for myself, but for Jet, Carl, Daryl, Rick and everyone else. I need to get through this and no matter what happens at least Carl knew I loved him on some level. If he's still alive._

They grab us and pull us out of the car, shove us onto our knees and whip off our bags. I instantly search for Carl and I spot him, safe. I see Rick coming down, and I look to Jet. His cuts look a bit redder but other than that he seems fine. He gives me a small reassuring smile and I face forward again.

"Rick, pleasant to see you again," the Governor says, calmly.

"Yes, pleasant to see you're still alive," Rick says, through gritted teeth.

"Alright, it's simple. I'm sure you already know what I'm about to ask but I'll go straight to it anyway," the Governor says, smiling. "I want this prison for my people; there are no other safe places like it. The problem is, you're here so please take your rubbish," he says while pointing to us and motioning to everyone else, "Out of here," and then smiles.

"We can live together. My people and yours can live together, I know it! No one has to die today, I promise I'll make it work, don't worry!" Rick says, sounding a little desperate.

"Rick, I made my offer and that's final," the Governor says in reply.

"I can't leave this place; we want to be safe too!" Rick cries.

"It seems as though you're not taking me seriously," the Governor says, I hear his footsteps come closer to us and he pulls out a gun. Aiming it at Jet's head, he waits for a while as if he's waiting for Rick to say something. I see that Rick is lost for words, and in the next moment I hear the gun fire.

I whip my head to face Jet, to expect a dead Jet but I only see a bleeding leg. "GOD DAMMIT!" Jet cries, screaming as his leg bleeds out.

"The next bullet goes through his head," the Governor warns.

All of a sudden Rick fires at the Governor, hitting his arm which causes his gun to fall. Everyone behind me fires and people in front of me fire too. I crawl over to Jet, my hands still tied behind my back.

"Jet, you're going to be OK. Remember? We're going to get out alive no matter what," I say, trying to think of a solution that could get us out. I spot a boy running and hiding at the same time, so I tell Jet to crawl as fast as he can. We almost make it when he collapses, screaming in agony.

"C'mon Jet! You can do it, just a little further. Please!" I scream and so he gets up again and crawls. We make it over to Carl and he cuts us free.

"Oh my God, I'm so glad you're still alive," I say, pulling Carl into a great big hug.

"Me? What about you! You're the one who was captured by the Governor!" he says, as he clutches onto me. I notice people piling into the yellow bus and some people still fighting against the others.

"Carl…The bus," I say and Carl turns around to look at it. It reverses and speeds away leaving us and whoever else that was left behind.

"Oh crap," Jet mutters.

"We gotta get out of here," Carl says, taking my hand. Jet follows behind as we run through the forest.

I pull out my gun quicker than ever and shoot one of the enemies that tortured Jet before he could shoot us.

"Holy moly," Carl says, surprised.

"Being captured made her feistier," Jet says and I laugh as we run faster.

We slowed down after a while of running, we weren't sure where to go exactly but we decided to just keep going. We killed any walkers in our path, the ones that only needed to be killed. When Jet ran ahead of us, killing a few walkers, Maddy whipped her arm in front of me, gesturing for me to stop.  
"Jet and I talked and he's OK. He's just broken because of the things that happened to him so don't worry about him anymore. I can't tell you the full story but I know he'll tell you when he's ready too," she says, truthfully. I nod my head in agreement and we start walking again. Jet's still up ahead slashing zombies heads quicker than ever. He must have had a lot of experience then.

I feel Maddy's hand slide into mine as we see a whole herd of walkers ahead. Not just more than a few but hundreds, thousands even.  
"Oh no…" Maddy says. Jet runs back to us before they smell or notice him.

The herd of zombies reminds me of the time at Hershel's farm…How we just escaped and how I killed Shane…Or what was left of him.

"Now what do we do? We have to find a house or something for the night," he says, calmly. I notice how banged up and scarred he is for the first time but I don't ask because I already knew the answer.

"Let's just back up slowly, I think there's a town over this way," Jet says, hobbling away.

Maddy and I follow him, hand in hand. We start to jog a little faster because Maddy starts to get scared of being in the dark with walkers around and no flashlight.

After randomly stumbling around in the almost dark night for a while we finally see a building so we make our way over. Jet recognises it as the Library that he used to go too when he was a little child and that he always took his sister here every week.

**Maddy's POV**

The Library looked beautiful in the dark for some reason, almost creepy too. We walked around through the aisles for a while until we found some flashlights, couches, pillows etc.

I picked out a book and looked at it; I've always loved reading books. Ever since I was little I enjoyed the company of them, the stories they showed me through words.

"Maddy, our little 'camp' is set up," Carl says, walking into my aisle.

"Oh, okay. Coming!" I shout, not realising that Carl was standing next to me.

"What book you have there?" Carl asks, surprising me.

"Oh, Carl! Mate, you almost made me reach for my dagger," I say, giggling, "It's a book I always used to read when I was upset or lonely,"

"Well, you're not lonely now," Carl says, smirking.

Suddenly I pull Carl into a hug which surprises him at first.  
"Sorry, I just felt like hugging you," I say.

"It's okay, I like hugging you," Carl says.

We both let go at the same time and walk to where we set up camp, Jet looks at us raising an eyebrow.

"So, looks like you guys will be sharing one couch," he says.

"What?" I say, suddenly nervous. I've never slept with someone before…obviously.

"Well, I could only find two couches, I'm sure as hell not sharing with anyone and besides, you guys are like a married couple," Jet replies.

We quietly sit down, eating whatever we had found. I never knew how good a can of baked beans could be! After some random topics of conversations we started talking about life before the apocalypse started…

"I always used to go to this café type place with my friends after school and I remember we always went to this one because a cute guy worked there…He was about 16 years old or something. Life seemed so easy back then…" I say, focusing on my food as I remember what terrible events happened soon after the apocalypse started.

"Yeah, all I did was focus on school life, games and girls… Now people do absolutely anything to survive…" Jet says. We all stop talking and just stare at anything; I guess we were all remembering the happy memories. Or bad

We decide to go to sleep and I curl up with Carl on the couch. At first I felt extremely awkward but I just told myself to calm down and get some sleep. Just when I'm about to fall asleep in Carl's arms I see a pair of hands coming closer, but everything disappears.

The next morning I wake up with my hands bounded behind my back, tightly and a blindfold wrapped around my head. Letting no light through at all. I hear a groan across from me and recognise it as Jet and then another escapes Carl. "Carl? Jet?" I say, just to make sure.

"Yeah," Carl says, "Yep," Jet says. _Thank God they're both OK, or alive._

"I can't believe I'm in this position again." I mumble, remembering back to when Jet and I were held hostage for the prison. _Isn't once enough?_

I feel around the room with my legs and I start to move but I hit something, warm like a body. "Did I just hit any of you?" I ask.

They both reply with a no and that's when I scream, I shuffle backwards but stumble and I fall backwards onto the ground, but again I fall on something warm and soft. I struggle a little but Jet says, "Calm down matey, it's just me. Did you feel something over there?"

"Yeah, I did. It felt like a body." I say, trying to stay calm.  
"Just try to calm down, it didn't move right? So it can't be a walker…If it's human it's either asleep like we were or …" Jet's sentence trails off.

We all hear the door creak open and we hear footsteps shuffle inside the room and then the door closes. "Ah, I see you've gotten quite comfortable. Are you two together in a relationship? How sweet," an intimidating male voice says.  
"It's not like that, I tripped-

"You were walking around? Why?" the voice asks.  
"I was just trying to feel around. I was wondering where we are, wouldn't you too?"

"True, I guess. Take off their blindfolds, now!"

I feel someone tug my head upwards and the blindfold slips off, the bright light coming from the top window hurts for only a moment and soon I can see where we are. In a small storage-like room, and I realise that we're still in the library. The body on the other side was dead, definitely dead.  
"You can get off of him now," Carl says.

I listen to Carl and get off of Jet, I shuffle over to Carl and sit next to him, I look up to our captor's faces and I gasp. They're only young! Sadly, they're all boys…

"My name is Mike and I'm the leader of this group, who is your leader?" I look to Jet and Carl and I pray that they don't say where we have come from. They need to make up a lie! I see Jet's mouth form a word and I quickly cut in.

"I'm the leader," I say as I stand up.

Carl looks down at the floor but Jet looks up at me, confused. "I'm sure you have a reason for capturing us? I can see we're not wanted in the library, we will leave right now."

"No, questions first." Mike says, smiling. "For each question you _will _answer truthfully or I can make this more painful than it has to be. First question, how old are all of you?"

"Sixteen," Jet says.  
"Carl," I say, pointing to Carl, "And me are both fourteen."

"Ah, interesting mix in numbers. Too bad you're the only girl, us guys haven't seen a girl since the day it all started." Mike says as he inches closer to me. "I don't think your friends would mind if I steal you away for just a moment."

Carl and Jet both shuffle forward and stand in their way. "Actually, I think we do mind." Carl says, in a sassy voice. I almost burst into laughter but I hold it in, fortunately. They would probably start to think I'm going insane if I did that.

"Four against three, you're outnumbered." Mike states.  
"Only one person missing, and we are very good fighters." Jet says

"You're forgetting one, tiny thing. You're all tied up. So, I'll just grab her and be on my way. What's your name sweetie?" Mike says.

I glare at him, refusing to tell him my name. Whatever he might do to me I don't want him to call out my name in the process. "Oh? Well, I'll get it out of you later," he says with a wink. He snaps his fingers and the three other boys grab my and carry me out of the room. I stare at Carl as I'm being taken away; his blue eyes are scared for me. If Carl is scared, then of course I'm hell scared.

The door shuts and they lock it loudly, dragging me away. _Please, please don't let them do anything to me. _I haven't prayed to God for a long time, right now I hope he's listening. I continue to pray silently as we come closer and closer to a room at the end of the hall. They open it and shove me forwards into it, Mike follows and the others leave.

"You're quite a pretty girl for a fourteen year old." Mike says. He comes closer and unties the ropes around my hands and whispers into my ear, "Oh how long I've been waiting…"

I cringe and shudder at the same time. This guy is definitely going to do something to me and I absolutely have to get out of here. Unless I'd rather be impregnated and I sure as hell don't want to be!

I slam my fist into his face and his body is knocked to the ground with a _thud.  
Crap, that hurt like a bitch!_

He gets back up instantly though and grabs both of my arms, twisting them so they're back behind my back. "I gave you a chance to be obedient but you obviously turned it down." I tense up all my muscles because I feel that that's the only way to keep calm and let my anger out. I shut my eyes so I don't have to stare at his.  
"I see you're scared. But you don't have to be, I'm way better than those two guys. I wouldn't do anything to let you get harmed, but they did! They left you un-guarded! Lucky for you that I found you instead of the dead people or crazy bandits!" he says.

"You're only caring for me so you can use me for sex. At least those guys actually _cared _for me. You're just a selfish, insane bastard who will rot in hell." I say back, spitting at him.

"You could have gotten on good terms with me but I guess you're going to be hateful. No matter, let's get this started then, shall we?" he whispers.

I shut my eyes tighter as he forces me downwards, I scream inside me and I feel everything burning up from my bottled up rage. He touches me in places I've never been touched before and I tense up again. Suddenly, I hear the door burst open and I hear voices from Jet, Carl and… Daryl? Chelsea? And Sam?

I stand up instantly and see familiar faces; tears start to form in my eyes. _Thank you God_

Jet throws me a bat and I slam it down onto Mikes back making him scream in agony. I pull myself on top of him and pin him to the ground. He stares up at me, petrified.

"This is what happens when you try to rape girls, you will always lose." I say, hatefully.

"Please, don't kill me!" Mike says.

"Oh? You think I'm going to kill you?" I say, bursting out into laughter. "No, I'll give you the punishment you deserve. First, I'm going to knock you unconscious, then tie you up to a tree and we'll see how it goes from there."

"Hurry up Maddy, we gotta get out of here." Carl says.

"Aw, too bad I won't be able to watch you be _eaten alive._" I say and swing the bat onto his head, only just hard enough to knock him out. Jet helps me take the body out and I tie him to a random tree, I start to spot some walkers coming this way so I make a huge noise and then we run off back to the others.

Daryl slides his arm around me and pulls me closer, like he's acting as a big brother I never had. I love Daryl, he always makes me feel protected and whenever he's around I feel as if no one will die. "Are you OK?" Daryl asks, sounding concerned.  
"I'm fine."  
"Look, you can't just be fine. You were almost raped and you forced someone to be eaten alive…I didn't think you'd do something like that." He asks.  
"Looks like you underestimated me then." I say and brush off his comforting arm. I'm no longer some weak little girl, I don't need comfort or safety from boys or men.

I catch up with Chelsea and we start our usual topic of conversation.

"So you escaped with Daryl and Sam?" I ask  
"Yeah, we're all fine I guess but… Daryl." Chelsea says.  
"What happened?"

"Sam and I were running through the crowd, after the bus left without us. We spotted Daryl and caught up with him, he told us to run. I noticed he was crying and…" Chelsea says, "I saw Carol's body on the ground…"

"Oh my…" I start. Over the past weeks that I'd been staying at the prison I closely observed everyone. Daryl definitely had feelings for Carol although they never really showed them much. I always wondered if they had a relationship going. One time I even asked Carl and he said he thought so but was never 100% sure. We keep walking without any more discussion but soon after we spot an abandon hospital. Well it looks abandoned.

"I guess we'll stay here for the night but we'll go on shifts for watch." I say and the others nod in agreement. We go inside and check one entire level, nothing to be found that could harm us so we find a big room for all of us to sleep in. We scrounge around in the rooms and different levels until we all gather enough snacks and random foods for dinner and for travel the next day. Daryl suggests that we keep heading up the street next dawn because before the bus left they had let him know where they were headed.

"I hope we find them soon." Sam says, huddled next to Chelsea. I wiggle my eyebrows at Sam and he blushes, those two are cute as.

I find Jet and Carl sitting together, talking and eating at the same time. I feel as if I'd be the third-wheeler with Sam and Chelsea so I take a seat in front of Jet and Carl so I'm facing them both. They both nod and I nod back, we continue eating silently until we finish our food.

"I hope no one else is dead." I mumble, after telling them about Carol.

"Same," says Carl and Jet. I can't believe I'd ever become friends with Jet, but I'm glad we did. He's like an older brother to me, well kind of. I didn't want to think of him as anything beyond that because of Carl… My feelings are growing stronger for Carl every day but I still don't think it's the right time to confess. Carl might have changed his views on me over the past couple of days because of that little incident with Mike. He's seen my scary side, when will I see his?

**A/N; Again, I hope you liked it and I hope it wasn't too short or too long. Reviews are appreciated, please let me know what you think so far! xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – Maddy's POV (I think I'll continue with Maddy's POV for a while now…)**

Carl pokes my face until I wake up, I rub my eyes and notice it's still dark. "Our shift now." He mumbles, sleepily. I see Daryl and Jet going back to their sleeping spots so I get up and follow Carl out to our little watch area, which is separate from the others so we can talk and they can sleep.

"Have any interesting dreams lately?" I ask, forcing myself to be wide awake.

"No, but I've had a fair share of nightmares…" he replies. I've had nightmares as well, about the Governor, Mike… Carl. In one of them the Governor forced me to shoot Carl otherwise he'd shoot me, the first couple of times this dream occurred I watched Carl die. But the most recent time it happened I chose to shoot myself, and that's when I woke up. In another, Mike is tying me up and saying rude, scary things but every time I wake up I can never remember what he said.

"What about you?" Carl asks.

"Mainly nightmares too," I reply, keeping it at that.

We watch silently for another couple of minutes and then I remember to ask Carl something. About what I did to Mike.

"Carl, I know what I did to Mike was crazy but I-

"It's OK. I would have done the same thing, he deserved it," Says Carl as he cuts in with a menacing glare, not glaring at me but just at the memories of Mike, I guess.

I nod and stare back at where I was watching. As time passes I grow sleepier and soon I feel myself drift off, I try to stop it but I was already gone.

I wake up later and it's day time, no one is around and I notice how bright everything seems. I don't remember ever being carried back into my bed, but I guess it was either Sam or Carl, maybe Jet. I get up and open the door, still no one is around.

"That's strange…" I mumble. "Hello!?" I shout and I hear my voice bounce of the walls of the empty corridor, echoing eerily.

No answer

I step out into the corridor and as soon as I do I hear a shuffling sound, a rotten smell and a long, sick groan. Three groans, no four different groans. Up ahead I see a group of walkers, slowly making their way over, bit by bit.

"Guys! Walkers in the corridor!" I shout, but still no reply. Now they're too close for comfort and I notice that I'm not carrying my dagger. I remember where I left it, beside my bed so I go to open the door but it's stuck. I pound at it, twist the knob furiously but it still doesn't budge. I turn around and I see a walker, a lot closer than before and I recognise the face… Carl.

My horrifying screams fill the hospital, it reaches out to every room, every nook and cranny. I feel tears splash down my cheeks as I notice Sam… Chelsea and Jet too.

_Daryl? Where is he?_

I run further down into the corridor but every time I look back they're still at the same length. How could they, I'm sure I'm running faster than them. They're not even running! I run harder, faster but they get closer with every step I take. I stop and they stop, I run and it's like I'm running backwards.

_What the hell is going on?_

"Daryl?" I yell, hoping I hear his voice. He has to be here somewhere, please don't let him be a walker!

I decided to run into the walkers, if they're getting closer with every step I take forward then I should go backwards? It seemed the right thing to do at the time and besides, I was going to be dead any second now. Might as well get it over with, so with great bravery I slam myself into the pack of walkers but as soon as I feel their cold grip and tattered clothes they disappear, like they were never there.

"Daryl?" I shout again but when the word escaped my lips it came out as a groan. I spot Daryl coming closer and closer, a loaded crossbow. Aiming at me?

I feel happier than ever before and I stumble over to him, almost tripping over my numb, tangled feet. Daryl's eyes concentrate for a moment and then I hear the snap and woosh of the crossbow being shot, and I feel the pain in my head. My body falls to the ground and I hear blood-curdling screams and recognise them as my own.

"Hey, Maddy! Wake up!" I hear Carl's voice and I blink my eyes open. Oh my… It was just a dream. Only a stupid dream…

I look to Carl and he looks worried. My mouth is slightly open and my eyes are wide, I feel sweaty and too hot. "It was…It was just a dream…" I hear myself say.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asks, nicely.

I shake my head so vigorously that I feel as if I'm trying to shake the nasty nightmare out. "Why did you let me sleep?" I say, angrily. "We're supposed to be on watch _together_."

"I thought you needed the sleep," Carl says, shrugging his shoulders.

"You don't get to decide when I sleep and when I don't. Besides, I wouldn't have had to live through that nightmare!" I shout, just a little too loudly. Carl's eyes drop to the ground and he mumbles and apology. Immediately I regret snapping at him so I grab his hand and he looks at me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. It's just… You don't have to care about me all the time, you should try caring more about yourself. You're just as important as the rest of us." I say and he nods. "Here," I pull him down so his head is in my lap, "Go to sleep for a while, I can take watch."

"You sure?" He asks and I nod so he closes his eyes shut. I watch him breathe steadily for a while and then play with his long, brown hair. He smiles as soon as I touch it, hopefully it will help him fall asleep quicker and maybe he will have a good dream or none at all.

Time passes and I still play with Carl's hair. My hands are always fidgeting so I focus on stroking his hair, it was soft and shiny. I twirled around my finger a couple of times and watched his face twitch occasionally. Then his eyes flutter open and as soon as he sees me he smiles, and I smile back.

"Were you stroking my hair the whole time?" He asks.

"Yeah, I guess." I reply

"I didn't know it felt _that _amazing." He says jokingly and I watch him stand up, then he proceeds to help me stand.

"Ugh, my legs are cramped." I say, feeling them ache painfully. I massage my legs hardly and groan as I stretch.

"It's time for Chelsea and Sam's watch." Carl says as he drags me back inside. He carefully wakes both of them up and I find myself stumbling sleepily over to my blankets. But I forget that there are other people sleeping in this room and I trip over a body and half land on him.

"Crap," I mumble and the body groans and soon I hear a laugh.

I turn my head and see Jet's face, smiling at mine.

"You're such a klutz, please don't tell me you tripped over me while going to your bed?" he says.

I nod and he laughs again. I roll off of him and lay on the floor beside him.

"You gonna get up or just stay there the whole night?" he says and I remember that my bed is at the end of the room.

"I'm too lazy," I groan and whack him in the stomach.

He yelps and says, "What was that for!?"

"I don't know, I just felt like hitting you." I say, giggling. I'm way too overtired, I kind of feel a little drunk.

"Shut up," moans Carl and we both laugh again. I get onto my knees and bid Jet goodnight, then I stumble over to my bed and pull the blankets over me. I could still feel the hard, cool ground underneath the bottom blanket, but it wasn't too uncomfortable.

Later I wake up after another bone-chilling nightmare and I spot a person staring at me.

Jet

"Are you all right?" he asks in a whisper.

"No, I had another nightmare." I grumble and he beckons for me to come over to him. I crawl over and he suggests that I sleep with him since sleeping beside a person lessens the chance of nightmares. I agree because I can't stand the nightmares anymore, I think that if I have another one I might just vomit.

I crawl under the small blanket and curl up against his warm body. I hear his heartbeat which helps me fall asleep faster. Yes, this may seem an inappropriate thing to do with a sixteen year old boy but I really hated the nightmares, I needed sleep if we're travelling tomorrow and Jet doesn't seem to mind. His arm wraps over my shoulder and pulls me in close, I wasn't sure whether he was doing it in his sleep or not. At first I felt nervous and uncomfortable, heck, I've never done this with an older guy but then I remember he's only trying to comfort me so I finally drift off to sleep and dream of nothing. Not one single thing.

"Wake up you two, we got a lot of ground to cover by today." Says an older voice that belongs to Daryl. I open my eyes and remember that I'm beside Jet, who is still asleep.

"Mhmm," I reply, stretching my arms. I sit up and rub my eyes, everyone's only just woken up but Carl seems as though he's been up for hours. I wave to him and he nods back, not really focused at all. I feel Jet sit up and I instantly slide sideways so we're no longer touching and he yawns.

"Good morning," I mutter, stand up and then walk over to my bed. I gather up all my stuff and shove it into a backpack I had found earlier. I slip it on and walk out with the others, Jet following behind. I wish I could hang out with Chelsea more, but she's so occupied with Sam that it's like I don't exist.

We follow Daryl down a road for a couple of hours before we stop and start snacking on our remaining food. But we don't eat all of it of course.

I open a packet of chips and eat slowly and I watch the others. Daryl must feel crappy and annoyed that he has to look after us teenagers and having to mourn Carol's death would definitely be hard. Chelsea and Sam sat close together, talking quietly and laughing, wrapped in each other's arms. How could they do stuff like that when we're all going to die!? But then it hit me, maybe that's the reason they're doing it. We're going to die sooner or later, why not just decide now whether or not you're feeling love? The risk of dying is a lot higher now so it makes sense, I guess. I look over at Carl, just focused on eating. I wonder what was up with him, is he also sick of all this crap we've had to go through in the past weeks? He catches me staring and my eyes flicker away. Jet is sitting alone but out of the corner of my eye I just make out his body, his face and I notice that he's staring at me. Is Carl… jealous?

I stuff the rest of the chips in my mouth and stare at the floor, but hear footsteps pounding closer. I see the shoes and recognise them as Carl's, I look up and he smiles a little.

"Hi," I mutter, looking away.

"I'm sorry for ignoring you; I don't know what came over me. But, are you okay?" he says, with his cute nervous voice.

"It's OK. Sometimes we have to have space from others to deal with our problems. But you know, you don't need to be alone forever. And I'm fine, I guess. So much has happened that it's still processing through my mind. I wonder who else we lost…" I reply, my sentence trailing off.

"Aaargh!" someone screams and drops to the floor. Wails and shouts come from everywhere and so do the deathly moans of the dead. We're being attacked by walkers, not just three or four but more than a dozen.

I see the body slumped onto the floor and someone crying over it, Sam. I've never seen him cry and the only person he'd be crying for is Chelsea. I drop to the floor as I watch Chelsea's dying face turn pale. My best friend, the one I could talk to about everything, girl issues, gossip, anything. As I see her eyes close, I know she's gone. And I just have to accept it. I get up and run over to Sam, pulling him to his feet.

"No! Let me go, I want to be with her!" He screams, shoving me away and I roll onto my side. I feel a prickle of pain and notice a walker on my leg, attacking me. I shove it off and then stab it through the head.

I limp over to Sam and pull him, drag him away from the mess of walkers and blood. I see Carl in the distance, running away. I slap Sam in the face and his eyes widen. That's when I fall to the ground unconscious.

**A/N; RIP CHELSEA- You will be missed, I'm sure. Next chapter will focus on the mourning of Chelsea and maybe the group will be reunited again? I don't know, read on to find out though! Oh and you'll find out something REALLY IMPORTANT, about Maddy, IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT OF THIS WHOLE FANFICTION. So please don't stop reading now! You'll find out more of Maddy's past as well as something that might give you a heartattack, SORRY IF IT OES, I DON'T MEAN TO KILL PEOPLE! ;D Bye for now! x AND SO SORRY FOR THE REALLY LATE UPDATES IN THE PAST, SCHOOL HAS STARTED AGAIN AND ITS REALLY PRESSURING AND YEAH **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

I wake up to the sound of Carl's wails and Jet's sobbing. _What the heck was going on?_

My eyes open fully and Daryl puts his hand underneath my head, I feel a tear drop onto my cheek.

"What's going on?" I say, looking to each of their faces. Sam is over on the other side, quietly sobbing to himself.

"You- You've been bit, Maddy," Daryl says, his voice cracks and starts to cry again.

A quick flash back occurs as I remember before I met Carl. The attack, the basement, my near death. I remember to the last time this happened and I sit up.

"No, you don't understand." I say, and they all shut up. "There's something I haven't told to you guys… Something that's probably really important."

"What-c-could be so important?" Carl asks, through sobs.

"I've been bit before," I say, shoving my arm forward, revealing the scar. It was wonky but healed over. It felt like years ago that it had happened, but really it was only a couple of weeks before Carl found me. They all stare at my arm, shocked.

"When Jet and his group of soldiers attacked my place, they let walkers loose into the house. I was hugging my brother and sister's dead bodies as one sneaked up on me and attacked. It only bit me once but I crawled down to the basement to hide from the others. And because I thought that when I turned, I didn't want to be munching away on my sibling's bodies." I explain.

"That's impossible!" Daryl says, "You can't be serious!"

"I am! I was too weak to get out of the basement by myself. That's why I hadn't been eating. That's why Carl carried me out. It all adds up, don't you see?" I shout, waving my hands in the air. "I don't get any fever of any sort; I just grow weak for a couple of days, like I have the flu or something. You have to trust me on this!"

I eye Carl as he concentrates, probably summing everything up. "How many days did it last before you felt better again?" he says.

"Three days."

"We'll tie you up and spend three days in a random house. We'll continue to feed you, but you won't go anywhere unless you need to go to the toilet, understood? We'll change shifts every hour to guard her." Carl says as he walks over to me. He pulls out one of our supply bags and winds the rope around my whole body, and then he duck tapes my mouth, so I can't chew or anything.

"Who wants to carry her?" Carl asks, and Jet nods. He lifts me into his arms and we set off, walking to a house.

Soon after we find a street, newspapers and rubbish scattered everywhere. Bins tipped over and house windows smashed. We find a house that is abandoned and not too smashed up. Whatever is open we board up, well, they board up and I watch from my chair. I know the next couple of days will be boring, scary and annoying. But if I want to stay alive I have to go through with it. When we have dinner my tape is taken off and Jet offers to feed me since they don't want to untie me. It's awkward at first but soon I just get it over and done with. He stays afterwards to talk for a bit before putting my tape back on.

"So, how you holdin' up?" he asks.

"Alright I guess, this situation is pretty shitty but I'll get through it." I say, sighing. This really was a shitty situation. Bloody hell.

I see Sam sit down, he looks pretty bad. His eyes red and puffed, and it looks as though tufts of his hair had been pulled out. He looks to me and gulps back his tears.

"Sam, I know you loved Chelsea. But now we have to accept the fact that people die a lot more in this world because-

"It's not that. I'm over her death, I was already prepared for it. It's you, I'm the one who shoved you to the ground! The walker got you because of my actions!" he says, cutting me off.

"Sam. When I was explaining to you guys that I'm somehow immune to the bites, I wasn't lying." I say, in a calming voice.

"You're still at risk." He says, and stomps away.

I sigh again and close my eyes briefly. Thinking about all the crap that has happened, re-living the memories in my mind. The Governor, the rapists, the hospital, the dream, Jet…Chelsea…Bites.

I feel a hand touch my face, lightly. I open my eyes instantly and I look into his eyes.

Carl.

I smile and he smiles too. "Look Maddy, I'm sorry I had to put you through this but it's for the best. It's not that I don't trust you…It's just we have to be extra careful about everything now. I can't lose anyone else."

I nod in response and he moves his hand up to my forehead. "No fever, nothing at all. By now you'd have one…Severe one actually."

The next three days come and go in a blur of time. Nothing interesting happens; everyone just sits around and waits. Waiting for my death or my recovery? I guess I'll never know.

"Alright, we can set you free now." Carl says as he unties me. I jump up from my seat and stretch, jump up and down and give Carl a big hug.

"I'm so glad I'm free again. Now let's set off to the others." I say as Daryl pulls me into a hug, then into a big group hug with Carl, Sam and even Jet.

We pack up all our things and set off down the road, Daryl up ahead.

"So you know where they are?" I call out.

"Yep, we planned it beforehand. If the bus had to go, then they'd go. But they would wait at the meeting place for a couple of weeks, wait for any survivors." He explains, reassuringly.

"That's good." I say.

I inspect my bite on my leg, it was big but not gross looking, not swelled up and it had started to heal over pretty quickly. I was definitely immune to it, but how could I help? Yeah, so I didn't have to worry about being bit and turning…But does that really make me feel better at all? While everyone else has to suffer the change, I can just run free?

"Did you guys ever think of going to hospital or something? I remember when they said that they were trying to make a cure for it, I could help that. Since I'm immune and all." I say.

"We did find one, but he blew himself and the hospital up on purpose." Carl says.

"What-

"Well, he said he had tried to find a cure but that apparently there was no hope. None at all." He continues, "So he committed suicide along with a member from our group…"

"Oh,"

We walked on further but my leg started to ache and I had to stop several times. I should be fighting the pain but I guess sitting down for three days made me weak again.

"We can't just keep stopping, we have to keep going." Jet says, "Get on my back, I'll carry you."

"Oh-okay," I say, stuttering a little, remembering back to the night he comforted me.

_No, he's just being nice. Stop being so hormonal and get over it._

I climb onto his back and we walk onwards, no conversation between anyone. I guess we just wanted to get there as soon as possible. Soon I fall asleep, listening to the trees sway and the sound of footsteps, breathing and the breeze on the back of my neck.

"We're here," Jet says as he wakes me up by lifting me down. I lean on him for a few seconds and then he grabs my arm, dragging me forward. The meeting place was a big house, abandoned of course but surrounded by trees. It was a mansion! It had a white picket fence, bomb shelter and a basement. Three levels too, it was massive.

I rub my eyes sleepily as we walk in, happy shouts of greetings and hugs come all around. I spot each face, Maggie, Glenn, Beth, Hershel, Rick, Tyreese, Michonne and Sasha. I greet them all, plus a few little kids from Woodbury but I only recognise Lizzie. Judith is alive and well too, thankfully. I watch the bright smile spread across Carl's face as he holds her, laughing and smiling. I haven't seen him so cheery since we were at the prison.

I notice Daryl talking to Rick alone and I suddenly tense up. _Is he telling him about my immunity?_

Rick looks over at me, beckons me to come over.

"So, I heard you've been bit, twice now." He says, "How come you didn't tell me? This is important stuff you know." His eyebrows crease worriedly, he's always so anxious. His head angled to the side, staring at me.

"I didn't know how to say it and I didn't think you'd believe me." I mumble and he just continues to look at me.

"Okay, but next time you hide something as important as this I won't let you be with Carl anymore, OK?" He replies.

"I'm not _with _him anyway," I state, glaring.

"Don't you glare at me, girl. I have seen the way you look at him, and the way he looks back. You can't fool me; now go on ahead with the party. Us adults will be speaking _alone._" He says, then he rounds up the adults so I go hang with Sam, Jet and Carl. Lizzie runs off to her friends as they go upstairs, shouting and playing.

I feel different, I feel alone. Now that there's no Chelsea… I'm suddenly surrounded by boys. It sucks, a lot. I know Sam hasn't gotten over her death, sometime he just stares in the distance and takes a while to come back to reality. I don't blame him for missing her, he really liked her. That's why I can't show my feelings to Carl, what if I lose him? I can't imagine the pain Sam is feeling. I hope I never feel that pain.

"So… What's up?" I ask, glumly.

Everyone just mumbles or sighs, no one really cares anymore. I lay back on the ground while they sit on the couch. Right now I wish I could just sit down and watch TV with a bowl of chips like I used too. Or lay upside down on the couch and gossip to my friend over the phone. All that keeps me going is the memories I have and my friends now. Everyone is so… broken. I wonder if they think I'm a freak because I'm immune?

"I miss Chelsea." Sam says, and I smile. Not because she's gone but because he finally let it out. He finally admitted it and now he can finally accept it.

"So do I. Now I have no one to gossip too," I reply.

"Aye, what you talking about to her?" Jet asks.

"Sam," I say and smile.

"What!? Wha- What did she say?" he asks, stuttering and blushing.

I sit up and face Sam. "She told me once that she really liked you, before you guys got all cuddly. Then when you guys started to she told me how much she loved you and that she always will love you. She was glad the apocalypse happened because she would have never met you. Those were her exact words."

Sam stares at me for a long time and then he smiles. "I love her too," is all he says.

I stretch back onto the floor, laying on my back again. "I think we've gone through enough, maybe it'll stop now."

"Nothing will ever stop, it'll just keep coming." Carl says.

I hear the adults walk back into the living room so I sit up immediately and spin around to face them. They all eye me cautiously and this is what I feared. I didn't want to be treated any differently now that they know I'm…Different.

"We all talked about your…immunity. For now there's nothing either of us can do about it but if we ever can, we will." Rick says.

"Of course, just one thing," I say. He looks at me and nods to go on, "Can you guys treat me the same as before? I feel like you're scared or too cautious around me. There's nothing wrong with me."

"Of course," Rick says and everyone nods in agreement. Soon the adults who are in cooking duty make their way to the kitchen, guard duty goes up stairs and outside and us teenagers continue to hang out.

"Carl and Sam, could you go help out with us in the shed?" Glenn calls out from the back door. They both stand up and say a quick goodbye as they head out of the room. I stand up and sit down next to Jet on the couch, putting my arm on the arm chair and leaning my head on it, I started to think. If we ever did find someone who could make a cure because of me I wonder how they would do it? Extract some of my blood? Or what if I had to die to make a cure? If I had to die to save the world full of millions of people, I would.

"What's on your mind?" Jet asks, casually. I look up at him and notice his hair

"Oh nothing, just thinking how to save the world," I say, sarcastically. He laughs and then scoots closer to me, making me blush and feel uncomfortable again.

"How are those nightmares?" he asks.

"Nightmarish. Well, I just hate the ones where it seems so real and I have to watch everyone I care about die… You, Carl, Sam, Daryl… even Chelsea…" I say, letting it all out.

"You care about me?" he asks, surprised. His face was too cute, too cute to look at.

I look away and blush, "Well, yeah. Of course I do."

"Thanks," is all he manages to say, and then slides his arm around me.

But instead of walking away I lean into him and I feel… a lot better. I'm always thinking about walkers, people's lives, what could happen to us. But now all I feel is comfort and peace, something I haven't felt in a long time.

"You're hot," Jet says and I immediately push him away from me.

"Wha-what!?" I shout.

"You're cheeks were hot…That's what I meant…" he says, looking away.

"Uh-oh, okay. Sorry." I say, awkwardly and sit normally again. Jets arms rests back on his lap, no conversation between us seems to come to mind.

"Sorry for being socially awkward," I mumble.

He goes into a fit of laughter and replies, "That's OK, I'm socially awkward too."

I start laughing too and it seems we're back to normal. "Well, I guess we can be awkward together!" I say in between laughs. Jet smiles at me briefly and then in comes Carl and Sam.

"What you guys talking about?" Carl asks.

"Just how we're both extremely socially awkward," Jet replies.

"What did you guys have to do?" I ask, changing the subject. I didn't want Carl to think I was closer to Jet than I was to him.

"Just helpin' open up the shed and lift some stuff out," Sam says. I watch Sam as he sits down on the other couch, his eyes not so red anymore which makes me realise that he had bright blue eyes all along. Sam was actually quite attractive but I never even thought about him more than a friend and neither did he about me. His golden hair was scraggly now and oily, just like the rest of us. I only just notice at how tanned he's become, how funny. Why am I only realising these things now? Jet's only a little tan and Carl isn't at all. I look down at myself and see that I've tanned too.

The adults call us for dinner and we all file in, Lizzie and the other kids too. We eat together and then Carl and I decide to find a room for all us teenagers while Sam and Jet are on cleaning duty.

"How come they never give me any jobs anymore?" I ask as we climb the second staircase. On the third floor we find a couple of bedrooms but neither of us liked them.

"I don't know," Carl says as he shuts a bedroom door, "But don't worry about it, I'm sure it's nothing."

We almost start to go back downstairs when I notice a loose panel, I walk over to it and Carl stops walking. "I wonder if this could be a- I pull the panel right off the board and poke my head in. "A secret passage…"

"Awesome, let's find out where it leads too!" Carl says coming up behind me. I crawl through the hole and Carl follows. It's quite dark but I can still see everything in front of me. We continue crawling until I see a ladder in front of us. By now the ceiling has grown high enough for me to stand without hitting my head. We climb the ladder without conversation and soon enough, I push open the trapdoor at the top. We pull ourselves through it and look around us. A big room with a couple of beds and bookshelves, and a small window on the other side. I walk over to it and open it up, sunshine spills into the room making everything brighter and easier to see.

"This is perfect," Carl says, amazed. "I'll go get the others,"

"Can we…Just talk by ourselves for a bit?" I ask. I don't know why I was saying this.

"Sure," He nods and steps closer.

I study his face for only just a moment, grubby and tired. Everyone's tired, physically and emotionally. His locks of brown hair fall over his face slightly, sweat is formed up on his forehead and his green eyes look wary.

"How are you? I don't just mean it as a conversation starter –how are you, really?"

He looks uncomfortable for a moment and then looks at me, "I really don't know anymore. Lately everything feels so hard to do, way too much has happened over the past week."

"Yeah I know what you mean," I look away but I still feel him staring at me.

"I know you miss Chelsea, everyone misses Chelsea." He says, taking a step closer. "But you never grieved about her, and you know, it's OK to grieve about someone's death even if death is a part of an everyday thing now."  
I look up at Carl, his blue eyes reflecting the sunshine that spills into the room. "It's not that I don't want to… It's just –why did Chelsea have to die? I'm just so _angry, _so angry that I can't even let my feelings out! What kind of world is this? Why the heck are so many people trying to survive in a crappy place like this!?"

Carl's lips spread across his face, giving a sad smile. "I asked that a lot when my mom died." He says, looking away. "But having all those feelings bottled up doesn't help anyone. You were the person I spilled everything to, you can always tell me everything."

Carl looks back at me, waiting for me to say something but all I can think of is Chelsea's cold, lifeless body slumped on the ground, being eaten by the flesh eating monsters that roam the Earth. Tears start to well up in my eyes and Carl's face becomes blurry, "I just wanted to live a safe, happy life." And then I lose it. I drop to the floor and hug my legs, keeping my face pressed against my knees. All I do is cry, and it felt good to just cry. The tears that streamed down my face were like letting my bottled up emotions go free. I dig my fingernails into my leg and feel the pain and I know that it's real. That I really am living a hell-like life.

Suddenly a warm, reassuring arm rests on my shoulders and I lean into Carl. Jet's hug felt peaceful but Carl's felt safe and strong. "Carl?" I whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being there when no one else was," I say and I feel Carl hug me tighter.

"You too," is all he says.

We stay together like this for a while until we hear a strange sound coming from downstairs. I immediately get up and so does Carl, his arm still around me. "What was that?" he asks, looking confused.

"I have no idea…" I say as I walk closer to the trapdoor, opening it up. I climb down the ladder and Carl follows, we crawl through the space and out of the hole. After Carl gets out I close the panel tightly, "Does it sound a bit too quiet?" I ask, looking around nervously.

Carl looks around and nods. So, we make our way downstairs all the way to the ground floor and we spot everyone outside, crowding around something. Before we go outside I look over and see Jet, Sam and the other kids crowded together, Sam looking weary and Jet looking at us, directly.

"What's going on?" Carl asks, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

Jet looks at us for a while before talking, "They're- they're thinking about someone's execution…"

I look to Carl and his eyes widen and look back at mine. "What the heck-  
We run out of the house and Daryl turns around and blocks both me and Carl from going any closer. I push his arm but he's way too strong to back down.  
"What are you doing?" I shout, "What's going on?"

"It's nothing, really. Just go back inside with Jet, Sam and the kids, OK?" Daryl says, pushing me back slightly.

Carl manages to manoeuvre around Daryl, causing a distraction which allows me to run full pelt into the group. Once I reach there I see a girl, sixteen or older. She had short, black, boy-ish hair and a cloth was wrapped around her eyes. She wore a loose tank top and ripped, dirty jeans.

"Georgia?" I ask, unsure if it really was the punk girl who hung out with me, who was a pretty good friend of mine, even though she was two years ahead of me.

Her head turns slightly, "Maddy?" she asks, almost looking relieved.

"Georgia!" I shout and run over to her, pushing past Beth and Rick, who tried to stop me from going closer. I reach my hand to her face and pull down the cloth that covered her eyes, which I remember were the colour of silvery-grey. Her eyes brighten as soon as she recognises me and I pull her into a hug.

"Maddy, get away from her," Rick says, in a stern voice, his hand on my shoulder trying to pull me back.

I snap my head around to face Rick, "Shove off Rick, she's my friend. Obviously I know her,"

His eyes burn into mine with anger, "Don't you tell me to _shove off_," he says, pointing his finger directly at me. "She was caught _stealing _from us!"

"So what? She's probably hungry!" I say, sticking up for Georgia. I turn to face her and she looks scared, her grey coloured eyes looking nervous. "Are you by yourself?"

She looks around again, "I-I- yes, I am." She mumbles, looking afraid. I turn to face Rick again and he glares at me. Then, out of nowhere he grabs my shoulder and shoves me to the side, causing me to fall on my butt.

"What the hell!?" Carl shouts, coming over to me. He looks wildly at his dad, "Are you mental!?"

I push Carl away from me, "I'm fine," and walk over in front of Georgia, facing Rick again. Daryl and Carl join my side and soon I spot Sam and Jet come over too. "I know she tried to steal from us but how many people have we stolen from? Let her join our group, she's already proven that she's got some skill."

Rick looks from me to Carl and he frowns. "Alright, fine but if she causes one slip up, one wrong move and she's out!" he storms away, not even bothering to ask her the three 'royal' questions that are so important to him. _Why is Rick so –so scared of people ruining the group? Is he that nervous or is it because he's afraid?_

Georgia gets up quickly and stands by my side, clutching on to my arm. "Thanks," she whispers only just loud enough for me to hear.

"No problem," I say, smiling at her and she smiles back. I lead her away from the crowd so we both calm down from all the excitement I guess. "So, how have you been going?"

She looks at me and tilts her head to the side. "You look like a badass. I remember when you were a quiet little girl, what happened to you!?" she says, jokingly. I laugh but realise she's trying to avoid the question so I narrow my eyes at her and ask again, "Seriously though, how have you been?"

"Uh –it's been really, really tough." She says, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "You know, killing already dead people that continually chases you just to take a bite out of you which then ruins your whole life because you turn into one of them and…"

"Guess it's a good thing I don't have that problem," I mutter, deciding I should just tell her since she'll probably hear it from someone else anyway.

She looks confused for a bit but then suddenly realises at what I'm implying and she stares at me, shocked.  
"Yes, I can't turn into one of those…things." I state.

She raises her hands to her head and sighs. "That's…that's really great, maybe we can find someone who can study you and create a cure!"

"I hope so, I really do. I feel… kind of guilty for being immune when no one else is…" I mutter, looking away. "But if it means I can 'save the world' then I'll definitely try."

"A-actually," Georgia says, speaking up so whoever still stood outside could hear, "I met this doctor guy a while ago, said he was trying to find a cure. I remember where he's staying, in an old research lab or something. Maybe if we go-

"How would we get there? We only just formed our group after being separated. We can't all go." Hershel says.

"Yes but, if he really can create a cure, isn't it worth it?" I ask, looking at Hershel. He stares back for only a moment before replying.

"I guess, but what if he can't? What is he's as crazy as the other one that Rick was telling me about? You go out there and you risk your life. And not just your own but everyone else's who goes with you."

I look to Carl, Georgia, Jet and Sam and they all nod back at me.  
"If it's to save the world we're willing to risk everything." Sam says, firmly. I smile inside; I never realised how trustworthy and spectacular these guys were, they're the best kind of friends _anyone _could ever have.

Hershel frowns and says, "Well, if you don't mind then I guess I don't but it's not me who decides remember. Rick is the one and I'm sorry but I don't think he'll be for it." As I hear this I remember Rick, like I had forgotten that he was the one who _had _to make all the choices. Hershel was right, even if we convinced him it's Rick who decides in the end.

"If he doesn't let us go then he'll have to remember how we could have put a stop to all this crap when he's breathing his last breath," Carl says and Hershel stays expressionless and walks away.

**So basically this will be the focus on the next couple of chapters, hope you like it. :) x Oh and I hope you like sassy Carl, ahaha. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"So, how _are _we going to convince your Dad?" Sam asks, looking at Carl.

Carl frowns for a moment, thinking about his options but he shakes his head. "I have no idea; my Dad is very set on his own decisions."

We all think for a moment, well they all probably are. Instead, I'm trying to decide whether I should just go with Georgia. Hershel was right; if any of us died it would be my fault. Too many people have already died; I'm not letting it happen to anyone else especially if _I'm _putting them at risk.

"What are you thinking about all this, Mads?" Sam asks taking me away from my thoughts. I looked at all their tired faces and realised how much I do care for them.  
"I think I should just go alone," I admit and watch as Carl's eyes grow wide.

"There's absolutely no way you are going alone!" Carl says, in a firm voice.

I place my hands on my hips and stare at him. "Carl, Hershel is right. I'm risking _all _of your lives to do this."

"But it's to save the whole world so if anyone dies it's not in vain!" he replies, throwing his hands in the air.

"But what if he's incapable of making a cure when we get there? What if he's already dead by the time we reach him? Then who ever died, died for nothing!" I shout, biting back my tears. _I will not cry. I will NOT cry._

"I'm not letting you go alone and that's final." Carl says as he steps closer, lowering his voice into a cold, empty but firm one.

"If I may cut in," Jet starts, "We're all willing to go, Maddy. It's not your fault or anyone's if we die, whoever has decided to come has done it by their _own _choice."

Jet was right, it's not like I'm making them go, they chose to go all on their own. "Then if we're going we have to leave tonight."

"How?" Georgia asks. "You guys say this Rick guy isn't the one to agree to these types of things ever so quickly, how are we going to go?"

"If Rick says no we'll leave anyway. At least he knows what we're going to do. If we just leave without asking him he'll freak out a lot more than if he already knew. He wouldn't know why we left so we're going no matter what Rick says." I say and we all agree.

"Should we ask if anyone else wants to join?" Sam asks and I shake my head. We didn't need anyone else, majority of the people have to stay here otherwise the group will fall apart.

"Alright then it's settled, I'll go tell my Dad and if he says no we'll meet up here later tonight, after dinner. Prepare your belongings, we need as many supplies and food as we can get but don't take heaps otherwise this group won't have enough." Carl states and off he goes, ready to talk to Rick. I look around nervously and hope that everyone isn't just doing this because they'll be seen as a coward if they don't. I really hope that all of them wanted to do it because _they _wanted too.

"Alright, see you guys later then. And… Thanks for doing this." I say, they all nod silently and I watch as they all walk away. Except Jet, he waits with me until everyone leaves and then steps closer.

"So… Uh, I was wondering… How old if your friend Georgia?" he asks sheepishly, blushing a little. I already can tell by the way Georgia looked at him through the group discussion that she was interested and I'm glad he is too.

"She's sixteen like you, and I caught her looking at you a few times by the way," I say, wiggling my eyebrows. He blushes and mumbles a 'thank you' and then walks on after Georgia.

"Everyone here?" Carl asks, as Georgia and Jet stumble towards us.

I nod at Carl and he picks up a bag, soon we all have our bags on our backs and start to walk away. Rick said no of course, like we predicted but as planned we still snuck away without anyone noticing.

I watched as Carl sped up to the front, acting like the born leader he was. I thought about walking over to him so I jogged up ahead and stood next to him, falling in step with his own steps.

He notices me and says, "Oh hey, everything OK?"

I stifle a yawn and reply, "Yeah everything's fine; I just wanted to walk with you… if that's OK?"

He laughs quietly and replies, "Of course it's fine. I'm pretty sure you can walk with me if you've already kissed me." And he laughs again, tilting up his hat a little.

I laugh and blush at the memory; it feels like it was ages ago since we last kissed. It wasn't my first but it was sure memorable. Suddenly I feel a warm hand slip into mine and without looking down I knew it was Carl's, of course. I smiled to myself and he laughed a little. My blush grew redder and I held onto Carl's hand a little firmer.

I hear a groan, a loud, long, deathly groan that echoes through the darkness of the forest that surrounds us. I start to feel a little panicky, like I was suffocating. But I take in deep breaths and let them out slowly.

Carl notices, "Are you alright? Do we need to stop for a bit?" he asks, worriedly.

I shake my head and continue breathing and squeeze onto his hand tighter as the next groan echoes through the forest. It was close but we decided to just try and by pass them since it was quite dark. But I couldn't shake the feeling away that this walker was close, closer than it really was. As I see the body limp through the trees to my left, my chest starts to feel tight and I could no longer take in deep breaths. I was having another panic attack but I seriously needed to get it together so I don't freak out the other guys. But I couldn't.

In one moment I let go of Carl's hand and leap towards the walker, stabbing it through the head in one quick motion. It's decaying body falls to the floor and my shaking hands on barely keep hold of my dagger. The blood on my weapon freaked me out so I quickly wiped the almost black, scary looking blood onto the walker's smelly, rotten t-shirt.

"You didn't have to kill him…" Sam starts but I just ignore him and grab onto Carl's hand, almost tripping over from shaking so hard.

I heard whispers behind me and I felt as though they started to think I was crazy, so to stop this feeling there was only one thing I could do.

I whip my body around to face them, their eyes wide and reflecting the moonlight that beamed from above. "Alright, I'm not crazy. Ever since I could remember I have had this… this anxiety problem. I just didn't want you guys to see me in that state, once a panic attack starts it's hard to get over it but I've mastered the trick on how to get over it. But the walker's groans reminded me of…" I say, the memories flooding back, every bite experience I've seen from dreams to reality. "I just wanted it to stop so I killed it." And then I turn around, and for now their whispers had disappeared. They were no longer judging me behind my back.

Instead of feeling Carl's hand wrap around mine, I feel his arm wrap around my waist, pulling me close to him. At least he understands why these things happen. Telling him all these things turned out to be the right decision, he really was caring.

"Alright," Carl says, stopping in his tracks and letting go of me. Suddenly I felt too cold without him. "We'll set camp here; we're far away enough so they can't catch up if they go looking,"

We drop our bags and lay out a few tarps and one small tent that we managed to grab. Two people would sit watch and we'd go in shifts except one of us would have to go twice because there were only five of us.

"Who wants to sit watch twice? You don't have to do it twice in a row; you can have a sleeping break while the other two go." I ask. Everyone looked at each other so I spoke again, "Okay, me and Carl will go, then Georgia and Jet and then me and Sam."

Everyone nods in agreement except Carl; he frowns at me with crossed arms over his chest. I shrug and walk over to the circle we formed.

"Alright everyone, we'll be up early next morning so get as much sleep as you can." Carl says, and everyone gets under their blankets or sleeping bags, Sam crawls into the tent alone.

I walk over to where Carl sits and we take out our weapons and hold them at the ready. Soon everyone casually drifts off to sleep and I hear a few mumbles from time to time. Some of them are groans and some of them turn into screams… but before I can get to them they're silent again.

"It was just Sam again…" I say to Carl as I sit back down, stretching my arms. "I hope he's feeling better."

"But what about you?" Carl asks, looking directly at me. "Are you OK?"

I look away for a while and then reply, "No," I decided to tell him the truth, he was the only one I could open up to without feeling embarrassed or feeling like I'm irritating him with my problems.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asks, cutely. To be honest, every time Carl spoke his voice gave me shudders, in a good way though. I stare at him for a while, only just seeing his ocean coloured eyes stare back. "Wow… you're beautiful…" he says. "It's not like I haven't noticed it before but I just felt like- like telling you now because you- you know…"

This time my hormones took over and I pulled him by the collar so he was closer to me, inches away from my lips. I stared into his eyes just for a second more before I pulled him in for a kiss. At first the kiss was slow and soft, like we had forgotten how each other's lips felt. Well, we probably did since it was a long time ago since we kissed.

But soon after the kiss became hungrier, we kept on begging for each other's touch. His lips against mine were the feeling I had been waiting for, for ages now.

We pull back for a moment, breathing loudly. I didn't notice it but his hand was on my back and mine had wrapped around his neck, one hand against the back of his head. We looked at each other and then I saw a smile spread across Carl's face, making his eyes grow a tiny bit smaller. I smiled back and bit my lip as rested his forehead against mine. After a while we turned to face the front, and I started to lean on him. His arm wrapping around my body, keeping us close.

"I'd been waiting for that kiss, that kind of surprised me you know," he says, laughing a little.

"Well, I couldn't hold it in any longer." Is all I say, tilting my head to rest on his shoulder.

"What made you finally decide to take that road?" he asks.

"Sam and Chelsea," is all I say before falling asleep in Carl's arms. I knew in the back of my head that I shouldn't fall asleep, I thought that Carl would wake me up, but he didn't.

By the time I woke up it was morning and the sun shined through the trees above me creating a yellow glow. It almost felt like that the whole 'end of the world thing' was just a dream –a nightmare but as soon as I hear someone move next to me, hear their breath and feel their touch I soon remember about the cure we were supposed to find. Well, more like the doctor.

I turn my head to the side and see Carl, asleep. I remember falling asleep in his arms but no one never woke me up for the next shift I was supposed to take. Carl must have filled me in because usually he'd be the first one up. As I continue to stare at his sleeping face I hear someone else's body move and shuffle around so I quickly shut my eyes. Then I hear two, walking away from the camp site with giggles filling the air. It sounded like Georgia.

You can already guess who the other person is.

When I open my eyes again I lightly poke Carl's cheek, repeatedly. His eyes blink open and he smiles that cute smile that just makes me want to throw myself off a cliff.

"Morning," he says in his morning, husky voice. My body almost melts at the sound of his voice but I only just manage a reply.

"Good morning, sleep well?" I ask.

"Sleeping beside you may have been the best decision of my life. I always sleep well when I'm with you." He mumbles sitting up. Suddenly, he kneels over me but he doesn't touch my body anywhere, he supports himself by his hands and knees.

I look up at him wide-eyed and he laughs a little. "I missed kissing you all night. I had to wait until you woke up." He whines.

"You could have just woke me up," I say but he quickly replies.

"I didn't want to wake you, you looked so peaceful." And then he bent his head down so it was inches away from me. I stare at his lips and they form a sexy grin.  
"You really can't resist me can you?" and I laugh. I notice his stare focuses on my lips and I place my hand on his face.

"Just kiss me already…"

"I'm just about too…" and his lips press against mine causing my mind to literally explode with excitement and happy feelings. As his lips move mine do too and the kiss becomes heavy and passionate. All I could think about, all I could feel was Carl…

"Break it up, lovebirds. We've got more ground to cover today," I hear Sam say and Carl's lips and mine immediately pause. Before he breaks he quickly slips in his tongue which makes me smile and giggle. But his lips leave mine and I see the longing in Carl's face.

He stared at me for a while before starting to move off of me but I quickly grab him and pull him down again, he was caught off by surprise and he laughed as I smashed my lips against his for the final time. In one quick movement his flipped us over so that I was on top, I quickly regained my balance and kept kissing him. It must have been a sight to watch because our kisses were filled with smiles and random bursts of laughter. You could say this was one happy kiss.

Then he sits up and I straddle his lap, his arms around my back. I carefully place my arms around his neck and smile at him.

"I never knew how sexy you could be," he says, smirking that wild smirk of his.

"I never knew you could kiss that good," I say in reply and we both laugh.

"Seriously, c'mon guys we have to get going…" Sam says, in a serious tone of voice. I had forgotten that he was there, did he see everything that we did? I guess it wasn't too bad…

Or maybe it just reminded him of Chelsea…

I kiss him on last time before getting off of his lap and he stands up too, brushing his jeans down. We all pitch in to pack up camp and soon after we're all packed and ready to go. I notice Georgia and Jet hanging around each other quite a lot and I smile to myself. What cuties.

"Yeah you dopes, we need to leave. Stop kissing each other." Jet says.

"Stop kissing each other?" I say and burst out into laughter and Jet's face turns red. "Don't think for one second that I don't know what you two have been up to," and Georgia starts laughing nervously while I wiggle my eyebrows at them.

We all pitch it to pack up camp which takes around ten minutes, careful not to make too much noise so we don't attract any unwanted attention from the dead and the living.

"So, we're almost there I guess, if we get to this point," Georgia says, pointing on the map, "By tonight, then we'll only have a little to go."

"Alright then, let's get started," Carl says and we follow him onwards. Our journey made us all feel excited, weak and tired but we still kept trekking on, determined to get to the finish place.

I was a little nervous about getting there, what was he going to do? Extract blood? Would he have the right equipment?

If he didn't… I guess it's worth it if I save all humanity.

Pushing the anxious thoughts aside I start to focus on Carl, I watch as he steps ahead of me. Keeping on the track he planned out, his determination, his bravery. But suddenly, a wild walker appears taking us off by surprise. Georgia stabs it through the head, saving our bullets for emergencies. We could easily make it, with only one walker now and then, we could definitely make it. Too bad a whole herd came by…

The groans and moans from the dead sounded unreal, it was almost marvellous. There hundreds, probably thousands that headed towards us. Georgia screamed and Sam ran away, Carl following. Jet took a hold of Georgia's hand and led her away. I stood still and stared at the pack. I flinched as one brushed pass me, not taking a second look.

Three other passed by, not caring that I was actually human. I was alive. I was something that they could eat.

I was surrounded by the shuffling dead. But they moved around me, shuffled past me, occasionally bumped me but were not interested. Not in the slightest.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry if it was too short! x**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Some sniffed at me curiously but dismissed me and at that moment I realised that the bites must have camouflaged me somehow. Maybe. I start to walk slowly, as slow as I would if I was a walker.

I didn't want to attract too much attention to me because maybe they'd start to realise how human I really was. Well, alive that is.

Carl left. He left without me, he left without thinking to grab me. Did he think I could make it on my own? Maybe I could but I was too shocked and tired. But I was glad he left, I can get bit many times without dying but he can't so it was a good decision for him to run, even though I still felt a slight pang of hurt by his decision.

I shuffled off to the side, and when I was a good couple of metres from the travelling herd, I jogged in the direction they went.

"Carl?" I called, making sure I didn't say it too loud. "Jet?"

I heard nothing so I sighed and kept walking, luckily I had a backpack with a bit of food and weapons. Who knows how long I'll be out here by myself. All I know is that if I don't find them by tonight, I won't be sleeping any time soon.

Night comes quicker than I thought it would and I realise how a lot scarier it is at night. No light, all alone, not a good feeling at all.

I open a packet of chips and snack on it, missing the home cooked, hot meals that my mom used to cook. Thinking about the way it used to be made me tear up but I fight it, blinking the tears away.

Back then I would have never thought to be the thing that would save humanity from walking, dead, human eating, monsters.

I wrap the chips up again and stuff them back in my bag and lean back on the tree I sat by, fighting away the sleepiness that tried to push through. Yes, I don't get infected from the bite so that should give me an excuse to sleep right? Wrong, there's no time to get that little sickness I do when I'm bit. The walkers might realise I'm human and eat ALL of me. That wouldn't be so good would it? Waking up to parts of my body strewn around, blood oozing out and my insides hanging out being eaten by dead people.

Yeah, that's sounds great.

I hear a twig snap under someone's foot and I whip my head around to face the direction of where the noise came from.  
"Who's there?" I called. If it was a walker, all I have to do is stab it through the head. If it wasn't anyone from the group, I sure hope it's a walker.

"Are you armed?" the voice calls out and I don't recognise it at all.

"Of course I am you bloody idiot!" I shout back. Who would be so dumb to go out into the night and not carry a weapon.

"Oh right." The voice says as the person steps closer and I start to think it may be a man. I jump up and hold my dagger out and sling my bag onto my back.

"What do you want?"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to harm you. Is your name Maddy?"

I'm confused, how does he know my name?

"So what if I am?" I call back.

"Your friends Carl, Jet and uh –others are looking for you. They said you are immune to the bites." He says as he steps closer and I shine my torch onto him, his face is oldish. He had grey hair mixed in with blonde and a tired, exhausted face plastered on. "Hi, I'm Dr Mayford."

I nod my head slowly and he asks me to follow him, so I do. I stay a bit behind him because I still don't trust him fully. He leads me around trees for a while before I speak again.

"Where are my friends?"

"Back at my research lab, don't worry they're safe and well fed. Hot showers too."

That's why he looked so clean and didn't smell like the usual B.O

We reach a lab which was relatively small but not _too _small. We walk up to the gates and he taps his fists onto the boarded door a couple of times before a hole opens up in the door and a pair of eyes look through. I immediately recognise them as Carl's.

"Carl!" I shout and he quickly opens the door. I run into his arms and hug him, tightly. I forgot about him leaving me earlier and I honestly couldn't care, we were back together again and that's all that really mattered to me.

He grabs my shoulders and leans in close, "I am so, so, so sorry for leaving you! I thought I saw you run up ahead of me so I followed and got lost. Then I found the others and you weren't there so we circled back but instead found the lab. He offered to go look for you since he was excited to know that you were immune. I'm so, so-

"It's OK, really. I don't care, I'm just glad I'm back with you." I say before smashing my lips against his. His lips tasted like salt and soap, a weird combination but it didn't bother me. My lips must have tasted gross.

I pulled back and he looked as if he wanted more. "Sorry Carl, but I really want that hot shower,"

He laughs and Dr Mayford replies, "Well off you go, the showers are down your right. I've already put towels and a spare change of clothes, they might be too big but it's better than changing back into your old clothes."

I nod and thank Dr Mayford before practically running down the hall. I reach the bathroom and step inside, close and lock the door and then run over to the shower stall. I peelf off the greasy clothing I wore and smelt them, and almost puked. I was so happy, I never thought I could ever shower again!

I turn the water knobs on and warm water instantly spills out of the spout thing, creating a perfect waterfall which splashed over my grubby body. I took time washing the grease and dirt out of my hair, scrubbing it really hard.

Then I scrubbed my body down until my skin was almost red-raw, like I had peeled of all the dirty-grime-y skin. He had even placed a razor on top of my clothing so I snatched it off and started to shave.

Now I won't look, smell and feel like a dirty monkey from the wild.

For about 5 more minutes I stand under the water, letting it stream and splash down my back, feeling the warmness surround me. But my stomach growls so I turn the shower off, dry myself and get changed.

Dr Mayford was right, the clothes were a little big but that was easy to fix. The shirt was a dark red and the pants were black, loose, rip-styled jeans that I rolled up a little so it didn't go past my feet anymore. I pinned up my hair into a loose bun that didn't sit right on top of my head because it kept falling apart so I kept it down low.

When I walked out Carl saw me and stood up, hugged me and took me over to the circle they had created, including Dr Mayford.

"I just warmed up your dinner," he said, handing me a plate with potatoes and veggies, and a little bit of meat.

"Are you sure you want to give me all of this food?" I ask as my eyes widen, and my mouth almost froths at the smell. I could already taste it.

"Of course you can, I have plenty."

I mutter a thankyou and sit next to Carl. I tried to eat at a slow pace while they talked and I listened. The food tasted amazing, it was hot and actual prepared food. Not energy bars or packets of chips.

"So we will start the tests tomorrow Maddy," Dr Mayford says and I look up at him, horrified.

"Don't worry, they won't harm you in any way," and I ease up. Thank God, the sound of having 'tests' scared the heck outta me.

"For now, I'll leave you to rest up, chat and do whatever you want. Wake me up if there is any emergency. And the beds have been set up already in the other room." He says before leaving us.

I shovel the rest of my food won and set it over on a sink, rinse it and let it out to dry with the rest of the dishes.

We all walk into the room with the beds and each of us choose one out. Whoever set them out had set them in a circle, which was pretty cool. I chose one in between Sam and Carl, and Georgia and Jet were facing us.

"So…" I say but couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I still feel really bad for leaving you-

"No Carl, I'm fine. Everyone is fine. We are ALL fine so there is nothing to worry about, OK?" I reply.

"Ok…" He mumbles and pouts. "You smell so good,"

I laugh as the others go into discussion about something.

"I missed you man," I say and he smiles.

"I missed you too, I missed your lips as well."

"Well you can have them now, they're all squeaky clean." I say and lean into him and we kiss. It was a brief kiss but it was satisfying, and we smiled at each other for a while longer.

After a while we all say our goodnights and someone flicks the dim light off and I tuck myself under the sheets. A nice, clean bed. And a nice clean Maddy. It all felt too amazing.

I drift off to sleep for a while until I wake up again, Carl's arms wrap around my waist and I turn onto my opposite side to face him. We lay by each other really closely.

"Sorry," he whispers, "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's OK, now I can kiss you longer without the others telling me off." And I brush my lips against his and his lips move against mine too. I rest my hand on his arm and then slowly trace it under his t-shirt. I feel his chest heave up and down and I apologise in between kisses for my hand being too cold.

He pulls me even closer so that our bodies are touching each other, nearly everywhere. I put a leg over him and push him down so I sit on top. Our kiss deepens, never breaking apart. His hand traces up my back and his lips let go of the kiss. He flips us over, almost causing us to fall off the bed but luckily he had dragged his mattress over close to mine before.

His lips kiss my jaw and then trace down to my neck and a sigh escapes my lips. I feel him kiss my collar bone and then he pulls away and looks to me with a big smile.

"Sorry Mads but I don't think we should go any further," he says, trying to hide his disappointment.

I nod and say, "It's OK," and give him a quick kiss before he gets off and lays by my side. I turn to face him and lean my head onto his chest, listening to the steady breathing and feeling the rise and fall of his chest.

Ten minutes later I feel Carl lean over to me and I pretend I'm asleep. I don't know why, but it's what I usually do if someone checks.

"Maddy?" he whispers softly. I have the urge and curiosity to answer him but no matter how hard I try to, I just don't.

"I just wanted to say that I love you, very much." And then he rests his head back down onto the pillow, and he breathes steadily again.

I love him too. But would he have told me that if I was awake?

I fall asleep and dreams of Carl and I leak in, making me happier than ever but making me depressed to wake up.

We eat our breakfast happily and Carl kisses me with every chance he gets. I liked it, me being lost made him cuter and more intimate.

Around lunch time Dr Mayford calls me in and everyone decides to watch, I mean who wouldn't? He first takes a blood test which practically kills my arm and then he puts me into this brain scanner thing which was highly radioactive so everyone had to wait outside. He asks me to step on scales, he asks me to do all these things. A simple check up and more tests.

Finally he finishes and tells me I can go, and that it will take a day or two for him to come up with something that can help. So in the mean time we all decide to go down to the lake that was nearby. We followed to path down to the lake and took our clothes off so we were all in our undies.

No one seemed to care because all we wanted was just to feel like carefree teenagers again doing wild things.

Although we played a lot we all still kept our eyes open for walkers. Of course we could never really go back to the way it was, carefree and wild.

Carl swims up over to me and kisses me quickly before dunking under the water. I am confused for a second until I feel his arms wrap around my legs, lifting me up out of the water. I scream as I'm chucked into the air and smack back down, splashing into the water. I feel it surround me, enclose me and for once in a while it's completely silent.

The water swishes me around before I decide I should probably take a breath because you know, we need air.

I push my head through the surface and see Carl's laughing face and I laugh back at him. I lunge towards him, groping at his waist and pull him down with me. He smiles underneath the water and I push him down further. He twists out of my grip and jumps back out of the water, sucking in a breath.

I peep my head out of the water and he sees it, comes over to me and pulls the rest of me out of the water. I wrap my legs around his waist and kiss him again.

I loved kissing him.

"Carl?" I ask as I unwrap myself from him and stand back in the water.

"Yeah?"

"How do you think your dad and the rest of the group are going?" It felt like ages since I last saw them.

He looked at the water for a moment before replying, "I don't know. Hopefully everything is OK."

"Yeah, I hope they didn't try to look for us."

We splash each other for a couple of minutes before someone screams, "WALKER!"

As if it was by instinct I rush out of the water and pick up my dagger. I jog around the lake to where it shuffled and before it's limp, dead feet touched the water I slammed it down so it fell on its back. And then I drive the dagger deep into its skull, black, dark zombie blood spewed out and dripped down its rotten face.

"All good!" I shout back and tug at the dagger, but my hands slip off from being to wet with blood. I try one more time and the dagger comes out easily, and I walk over to a grassy area to wipe of the blood. I see the others get out of the water so I quickly wash my hands in the lake water and walk over to them.

We walk back together, chatting and laughing. Everything was fine, fine for now but little did I know what was going to happen next. And I sure wish I knew so I could redo everything.

We walk up to the lab and do that weird knock that I still haven't learnt. Dr Mayford ushers us in quickly and tells us to go to the research room. We all file in silently and watch as he scurries around grabbing papers, pens and tools that I didn't know of.

"Alright, I've reached an answer on how to create the cure." He says and we all cheer but he doesn't smile, nor does he cheer.

I look over to Carl and he as confused as I am.

Dr Mayford holds up an X-ray of my brain. "This," he points to a circled part, "Is what is in all of our brains. The disease. The thing that makes us turn into those people eating machines." And then he traces his finger over the top of it, "And this is something that none of us have in our brain except Maddy." He sets the x-ray down.

"What we need to do to make the cure is…" he looks around worriedly, "Cut out the cure that has grown over Maddy's disease. This will of course –kill her."

**I hope you... liked it... ? PLEASE DON'T HATE ME.. There are a couple of chapters left... :'( **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11- Carl's POV**

My heart stops. I almost choke on my own tongue.

"You mean, to make the cure you need that… that _thing _on top of the growth of the disease. How would taking it away kill her?" Sam says.

"Well uh," he holds up the X-ray again, "If we take this away, the disease will spread through her brain. Which will kill her immediately, without turning her."

"Yes, but why?"

"Okay, when the day of the apocalypse started everyone's brains had a small growth of the disease on them by that time. As you can see, Maddy's is a little bigger than a regular person." He says as he holds up another sheet, comparing the size.

"This means that when hers started to grow, something –something grew over it and stopped it from growing over her whole brain. If the cure hadn't grown over it the disease growth would have spread over her entire brain, killing her instantly."

I look over at Maddy, she had tears in her eyes. I wanted to comfort her but I didn't know how. How could someone make a decision like that?

"Sorry Dr, but I'm not letting her do this." I say, as my voice breaks from trying not to cry.

"That's not your decision to make," he says and he looks over at Maddy. "This will save the entire human race! You will not only be the cure but you will be remembered for curing everyone!"

"Why-why can't you just cut out everyone's disease growth?" she asks as she wipes away her tears.

"I have thought of that but when I tried I realised that the growth disease had attached itself to something inside our brain that is important. That is something we need to keep on living, so to take away the disease we'd have to take away the other important thing. It just doesn't work, I'm sorry."

She blinks as more tears stream down her face, seeing her like this made me burst into tears. I cradle my face in my hands as the tears splashed out.

**Maddy's POV**

I watched as Carl cried for me. I appreciated that he tried to stop me from doing this but my decision was already made, and I knew that he already knew I would accept to this.

"Ok, when is the surgery?" I ask and Carls face turns to mine immediately.

"No, no, no. You are not going through with this! I can't let you!" he shouts

"Carl, I have to. By killing off one life I'm saving hundreds, thousands."

"NO, YOU ARE NOT TO GIVE UP YOUR LIFE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE PRACTICALLY DEAD ALREADY!" he screams, leaping to his feet. I see the anger in his eyes, the tears and the sadness. I wanted to hug him and tell him that it will be OK. I wanted to say that I wouldn't go through with this but that would just be a lie. I have to go through with this, it what every, courageous human being would do.

"I never knew that you could be greatly brave even when you're scared to death." I say, "When's the surgery?"

Carl slams his fist against the wall and I flinch, but keep my eyes on Dr Mayford, pleading him to say something.

"The surgery can start whenever, but try to make it ASAP…" he says, sadly.

"OK, I'll say my goodbyes tonight."

"NO!"

I jump out of my seat and face Carl. "Carl grow up. Before, everyone had to fight to survive but now they finally have a cure! Less people will die! No one will be afraid, humans can re populate!"

"But you'll be gone…"

"Yes, but I will always be with you Carl." I say as I feel the tears splash onto my cheeks again.

I watch as he cries too and I walk over to him and pull him into a hug. He hugs back for a while before he jerks free and runs from the room, shouting in anger.

I sigh a sad sigh and turn to face everyone else. They were crying, silently. I smile at them, through all my pain and sadness and they smile back.

"You are so brave and I admire you for that, and always will." Jet says, and gives me a hug. I hug him back tightly and say,

"Thank you."

"You're such a little shit, I hate you. Please don't do this Mads," Sam says through tears, "I've already lost too many people I love."

"And you won't lose any more if I do this. Remember what we said before we came here? We'd do anything for the cure, even die."

"I know but it's not fair that you have to die… You're the one with the cure… You-

"Sam, please. Don't make it harder for me than it already is. I think I might die if my heart breaks again."

He hugs me hard and shakes his head as he walks away.

"I love you so much Mads. Good luck…" Georgia says as she cries.

She hugs me tighter than the others and kisses my cheek, "You're such a brave girl."

I thank her and feel more tears slide down my face. I always wanted to die courageously, bravely, respectfully. I always wanted to die to save someone but I never knew I would be so young.

"The surgery will be ready in 3 hours… sorry to give you a time limit." Dr Mayford says and I nod.

"Its OK."

I walk out of the room and search for Carl, desperately. I need him, he needs me. We have three hours with each other before I die, I _need him._

"Carl?!" I call out and my voice echoes down the hallway.

"Carl please? I need you…" I say and drop to the floor. I hear footsteps, a hand grab mine and a strange boy leading me away.

He takes me into a room and closes the door, his brown locks messed up, his eyes red and puffy and his trembling lip.

"I'm sorry," I say.

"I will never forgive you for this," he says, holding back more tears.

"Carl, I need you, please just… don't be mad at me for the time I have left."

"How long?"

"Three hours…" I say.

"Why? We could have lived a survival life together. You do realise I won't be able to live without you."

"Yes you can. You will, OK? Don't give up your life because I won't be around! At least you get to live on! I have to die!" I shout, anger rushing over me and the words just keep tumbling out. "At least you'll live on…"

"Oh Maddy, I-

"Carl, I love you."

His eyes widen and he asks, "What?"

"I love you. I always have and I always will," and I step closer and connect out lips. The taste of sad tears mixed in with saltiness danced over my tongue.

We pull back and I look at him, "Please, just let me do this. Don't be angry… Please forgive me… I'm so sorry…"

He stares at me for a while before nodding his head slowly. "Ok, I'll let you do this."

I think I've never cried as much as I have until now. The tears just kept coming, dripping down my face.

He reaches his hand out to me, grabbing mine and he looks up at my sad eyes with his scared ones. He pulls me closer, into a hug and we snuggle close to each other.

"I love you, I love you, I really, really do." He whispers, chanting it like it was a spell that could stop me from dying.  
Oh, I wish it could stop it, I almost begged it to stop it but… uh.

2 and half hours later I say my goodbyes again. Bringing back the tears and sadness I felt, I gave one final kiss and hug to Carl and walked down the hallway, following Dr Mayford. I realised this was the last, final walk until my death, my last breaths, my last own thoughts. Oh hell, I was scared.

I got onto the operating bed thing, he stuck a needle into my arm and I felt everything suddenly feel… unreal. I couldn't keep my eyes open, and finally I let them close… I was ready.

I wake up and I immediately feel pain to my head, the drugs are only just wearing off and I see Carl sit beside my bed. Carl.

"Hey," I choke out.

"I just wanted to see you… again. In your last minutes. We have to leave ASAP, with the doctor." He says, scratching his head a little and I can see him trying not to cry. "I'll miss you."

I manage to smile and say, "I'll miss you too Carl," before everything died away. My vision left, but my hearing was still turned on for a minute… I heard Carl sobbing and then it stopped.

**Carl's POV**

"I'll miss you too Carl," Maddy says before the light leaves her eyes, she has a sad smile plastered on her face. Her dead face.

I start sobbing loudly and I crouch before her body. I just wanted her to stay alive a while longer, we could grow old together, fighting for survival every day. We didn't have to start a family, hell, I would never consider it. I know she wouldn't either, she once told me ages ago that she never wanted kids anyway.

But we still could have lived a life together, a messed up life but still a life. And when we finally couldn't go on any longer, when our bodies were too old and brittle, we could leave together. A happy, brave death, together.

But she had another destiny, to save the darn world. No one out there even knows her name except our group, and they didn't even know her that well. Not as well as I did.

"Carl, we have to go…" Sam says at the door and I stand up instantly. Kiss Maddy's cheek and then grab my back pack and head out, wiping my tears away.

"How are-

"No. Not now." I say sternly as we jog down the hallway. He shuts up and we reach the end, walking out of the lab door and into the building registration office and out into the sunshine of the early morning.

I see the others and they stare at me. Ugh, why couldn't they just let me grieve in peace? I didn't need their sympathy, I didn't need their pity. Maddy chose to do this with free will, she may have not fully wanted to but she is too brave to let that stop her.

As sad as it is, she made the right decision, and all I am is proud of her. And I will make sure she will be remembered, definitely.

"Alright, let's get a move on. We have to find our original group, although I'm not sure if they're still going to be in the same place or not… but we can try. They might have decided to wait for us to come back." I say, thinking of a plan. I take out the map and show it to Dr Mayford, he nods and we decide to follow an easy trail.

Hopefully Dr Mayford will be OK with travelling at night, not getting much sleep and not much food either.

Or hot showers.

By the time it was night, I started to realise that Maddy really was gone. Sometimes I forgot but other times it hit me like a nightmare, but too bad it was real.

I just missed her so much.

I sighed and rolled over in my sleeping bag, sniffing the tears away.

**6 months later**

We enter through the gates of yet, another survival group. They have a secured a big town, guards and everything. The first one we went to, they were kind of small but this one was massive.

We delivered the cure to the first town and it was successful, they had one infected person and it cured him straight away, Luckily we went when we did.

This town had no infected but everyone was lining up. All we asked for in return was a good supply of food/water/supplies/weapons and to stay in their camp. It took a couple of months to get everyone cured, especially when there are heaps of people. I saw families, happy and smiling.

Maddy and I could live in something like this.

Could have.

We step out of the car and I follow behind Rick as we meet their town leader. She looked around the age of thirty and she had quite muscly arms. Good survivor.

"I'm very glad to finally meet you. We knew that someday we would get a cure," she says, nicely. But it pisses me off instantly.

"It was Maddy." I say.

"Sorry?" she asks.

"Maddy was the girl who had the cure, she gave her life for you people. Be grateful." I say and she looks at me sadly.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't-

"Whatever. I told you to be grateful, not to be sympathetic."

She nods and starts talking with my Dad again so I walk off, sitting by the benches with Sam, Georgia and Jet.

It never felt the same and even they agreed.

"These people look so happy," Georgia mumbles and I nod.

"Yuck." Which makes her laugh. I chuckle too and so does Jet and Sam.

We wait around for an hour, talking to random people about the story on how we found the cure, some cried. Some apologised and some just stared at me sadly, which made me extremely uncomfortable.

I haven't cried about her for a while now, all I feel is emptiness when I hear her name. When she fills my dreams, when she is mentioned.

Sometimes I feel as though it was stupid to love her but other times I feel that I should have loved her longer than when I did. We could have had more time together…

Later that night we all file out of the rec hall after we finish dinner. It tasted a little bland but everything does now days.  
Suddenly I see people shouting, running over to a commotion near the gates. Out of instinct I run over, Sam following.

We reach the group and people are shouting, pushing and then suddenly a gun goes off.

I push past people and see two guards pushed over, sitting on their asses beside a girl who held the gun in the air.

She had fired the shot.

She pushed her hair out of her eyes and stared straight at the crowd.

Someone knocked me over and I landed on my arm, it hurt only for a moment but I couldn't get back up. People were everywhere, surrounding me.

"Who are you!? What do you want?" someone shouts, raising their fist in the air.

"My name is Madison. I am the cure to you all, where is Carl Grimes?" the girl shouts and for the second time in my life, my heart stops.

I stand up slowly and people back away, revealing me to her. To Maddy. To the girl I loved, to the girl I thought was dead.

**Hey everyone.. I hope you liked it, and to be honest, it's OK if you cried because I cried while writing it D; Haha. Yes, there will be more chapters to come but for now it will be a little break so I can write a couple of chapters before posting so they're not rushed. Although this chapter seemed a bit rushed but I just wanted to get through it as quick as possible. Thanks to everyone who read it, and left comments/reviews! And thanks to everyone who favored and followed my story and/or me! ily all xx Btw, feel free to PM me whenever you want to just chat or whatever. Also, let me know if any of you have written fanfics/stories that you want me to check out! I'd love too! **

**Bye for now xx**


End file.
